Genie's Trap: Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
by LeoN1981
Summary: So, we all know that Kira Yamato is a total Gary Stu. Some of us like him, some of us hate him, but I thought I would take a stab at making him less annoying. Please leave comments to let me know how I'm doing, especially if you hate Kira. Rated:T because of the sexual relation between Kira and Flay, violence, and military themes.
1. False Peace

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Fan Fiction  
>Episode One: False Peace<br>Date: January 25th, Cosmic Era 71

"GRANTED," the voice reverberated through my skull, waking me from what felt like the darkest sleep I'd ever experienced.

I sat up in my bed, the last image of the dream seeming to float in front of my eyes – a being made up of thick, oily black smoke with dark blue flames for eyes – as my heart rate slowed and the dream faded away. Having had that dream before, I passed it off and went to the sink in my room to wash my face, trying to be quiet so as not to wake my roommate, Tolle Koenig.

"Birdy?" a small robotic bird chirped from my dresser.

I whispered back, "Go back to sleep, Torii."

The bird ruffled its mechanical wings before settling into the nest that Tolle's girlfriend, Miriallia Haw, had made for it.

There was a moment, when I first looked in the mirror, that I didn't recognize my own reflection, but the moment passed as I cataloged my appearance. Brown hair and purple eyes, I had a clear complexion and features that some would describe as 'delicate', I stood only 165 centimeters (5'6") but weighed in at 68 kilograms (143 pounds) – which was mostly muscle and the last vestiges of baby-fat. This was due, in part, to my genetics – increased muscle density was common among coordinators – and in part to the regimen of physical activity that I'd kept up nearly all of my 15 years. I put on a pair of shoes and slipped out of my dorm room, heading for the gymnasium on the college campus where I lived.

Pre-dawn in the space colony of Heliopolis was marked by the opening of the massive mirrors that reflected sunlight into the interior of the Island 3-type cylindrical colony. Artificial gravity was achieved by means of centrifugal force, and breathable atmosphere was provided by a combination of oxygen scrubbers and living plants. The 20 kilometer long interior space had forests and wetlands, farms and orchards, and was almost self-sustaining. At such an early hour few people were around to gawk as I set a sprinting pace and maintained it for an impressive distance.

After doing 20 laps of the half-kilometer long track, I headed inside and started pushing weights before finishing up with an aerobics exercise. When I was little I had asked my foster-parents to let me learn martial arts, but they had refused to send me, not wanting me to 'show off' or 'stand out' too much. Coordinators, human beings who had been genetically modified as zygotes, were considered second-class citizens on Earth, and were often targeted by racist groups like Blue Cosmos. I understood their concern, and tried not to advertise my genetic status, but I needed to push my body every few days to stay healthy.  
>Back in the dorm, I showered, scraped off what peach-fuzz I had, and then headed back to my dorm to get dressed for the day. My roommate, Tolle, was still asleep, so I shook him awake before opening my closet to figure out what to wear.<p>

"Uh, it's too early," Tolle complained.

"You forgot to set your alarm clock again," I pointed out. "You're actually running five minutes late."

He groaned, "I didn't forget to set it – I remembered not to set it."  
>I chuckled good-naturedly as he climbed out of bed and shuffled off to the bathroom down the hall.<p>

Unfortunately, I'd forgotten to do my laundry, so I was stuck with a black jacket, the sleeves and lapel held closed by red buckles and mint pants. The jacket was considered 'stylish', but the pants were a mismatch. Finding a pair of small red belts – belts and buckles being the current fashion – I wrapped those around the pants, under my knees, and finished the outfit with black shoes, a red shirt, and a black choker.

"Come on, Torii," I called out, and the mechanical bird, green and yellow, winged its way over to my shoulder. Once we were out of the building, though, it took off on whatever birdy errand that occupied its days.

I headed to the cafeteria for some food before my first class.

I was studying Robotics, but was actually a multi-disciplinarian, having already earned degrees in Structural Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Computer Programming. Advanced intelligence was also a common trait among coordinators, but I only knew of a few who were multi-disciplinarian – most focused their intelligence towards a single science, or the arts. Normal humans also had excellent intelligence – either due to their genetics or just hard work – and most of the people in my classes were older. The only one my age in my class was Sai Argyle.

A year older than me, 10 centimeters taller, and about the same weight, he was the prime example of selective breeding. He was also working on a degree in Robotics, but this was only his second degree. Still, he was tall, good looking, and popular – yes, I was jealous of him – but he was also a pretty nice guy once you got to know him.

"Hey, Kira, did you get that program done for Professor Kato?" Sai whispered during the lecture.

"No, haven't even started," I groaned, which was a partial truth. My plan was to work on it out in the commons later today so that the professor wouldn't be able to hand me more stuff to do.

"Well, you'd better not be late," Sai replied conspiratorially.

I nodded and focused on the lecture at hand, flagging any part of the material I didn't understand or caught my interest, either so I could pose a question or research further. Professor Kato actually had five students working under him: myself, Sai, Tolle, Kuzzey Buskirk, and Miriallia Haw. We were working on an EVA suit for use in colony development in hostile environments, like asteroid fields or unstable planetoids. The project was interesting, the people were fantastic, and the project would look great on my resume, but it sometimes felt like Professor Kato expected more from me than the others.

When that class let out I went to my second, and last, class of the day, and then went out to the commons to eat lunch and work on Professor Kato's project. On a separate window I played a news program, just as background noise, really.

"The refugee camp in South Africa has been suffering from a chronic lack of food and aid items putting the lives of 1.2 million people at risk," the male anchorman on the screen was saying.

His female co-host then took over, "We'll now bring you images from the Kaohsiung front where heavy fighting is taking place."

With my notes in my left hand, I typed with my right, mostly ignoring my surroundings, but I was aware of Torii landing on my laptop.

"Birdy?" the little robot seemed to ask.

"Kira," someone called out, and I looked up to see Tolle and Miriallia heading my way.

Tolle accused, "So this is where you're hangin' out. Professor Kato was looking for you."

"Again?" I exclaimed.

Miriallia chimed, "He's asked us to bring you to him immediately." Going on, she asked, "What is it about? Are you helping him out with something again?"

They favored each other, Tolle and Miriallia. He was short, like me, just 163 cm tall, though he had a lighter frame than me, dark brown hair and green eyes. She was shorter still, I think that was what drew Tolle to her initially, standing 159 cm, with light brown hair and eyes that were a strange shade of ocean blue. I liked them both, very much, as people and coworkers.

"Darn," I complained, "I'm still not finished with the stuff he handed me yesterday."

The window displaying the news program was still going, displaying recorded footage of a battle in eastern Eurasia. "It's begun!" someone was yelling. "Hurry! Hurry! Run away!" To which someone else exclaimed, "That way's just as dangerous!"

"Some breaking news?" Tolle asked, coming around the picnic table I was sitting at to see the feed.

"Yeah. Kaohsiung, apparently." I wasn't really interested since the video was a week old. Early in the war between the Earth Alliance and the PLANTs, the PLANTs had seeded the Earth with Neutron Jammers, devices that prevented all forms of nuclear fusion or fission, and blanketing the atmosphere with interference that made long-distance communications difficult. So, news of the attack on Kaohsiung was a week old, but the footage of the attack was new.

I maximized the screen as the field reporter in a bullet-proof vest explained, "Here, about seven kilometers from Kaohsiung the sounds of severe battle continue to echo." The image had two ZAFT, the PLANTs armed forces, mobile suits in the background, moving through a city scape.

Tolle exclaimed, "If these are scenes from last week they may have already taken over Kaohsiung by now.

Not really interested, I shut down the news feed and closed my laptop, and my mechanical bird hopped onto my shoulder.

"Kaohsiung isn't that far away, is it?" Miriallia mused. She wasn't talking about Heliopolis, which orbited the Earth at Lagrange 3, but Orb, the island nation that owned Heliopolis, and where our parents and families were living. "Will the homeland be alright?"

"Birdy!" Torii cried, before launching itself off my shoulder to go check on something.

"Sure. There's no need to worry," Tolle was saying, "Although they're close, we're a neutral entity. It's unthinkable for Orb to become a battlefield."

"Really? Then I guess we're okay," Miriallia sighed in reassurance.

I was not reassured by Tolle's words, remembering a time a few years earlier, when I'd first been gifted Torii. Back when I'd been living in Orb, I had made friends with a fellow coordinator by the name of Athrun Zala. The son of a ZAFT officer, he had accompanied his father to Orb; his father being in charge of security for the treaty signing that had made Orb a neutral entity, as Tolle had explained.

The day before his scheduled return to the PLANTs, Athran had told me, "There's no way a war will break out between the PLANTs and Earth." At the time there had been an up-swell of anti-coordinator violence, but he'd commented, "There's no point in evacuating," and had gone on to add, "You'll eventually come to the PLANTs, too. Right, Kira?"

"Kira?" Tolle asked, calling me out of my memory.

He had his face really close to mine, and I jerked back in surprise.

"What are you doing? Let's go," he admonished.

"Right," I sighed, a little embarrassed at being caught daydreaming, and packed up quickly to follow the pair as they headed for the taxi terminal.

The taxi system on Heliopolis was all automated – the white convertible sedans and coupes were self-guiding, and the nearest available car would divert to a terminal when summoned. Ahead of us were two groups – a quartet of professionals in suits and ties, and a trio of girls that were giggling through an argument. I'd often wondered how girls could giggle while arguing but hadn't come to a conclusion. Normally I would have just ignored them, but then I realized that one of the girls was Flay Allster.

I'd had a crush of Flay since she'd arrived at the start of the Fall Quarter. Long red hair, curious blue-grey eyes, she always seemed to be smiling, even while arguing with her friends, and always dressed conservatively. Today she was wearing a pink dress with a couple of buckles holding the bodice to the shoulder, the pleated skirt falling to just shy of her knees, and her dainty feet clad in red shoes.

Miriallia's roommate, Flay was studying Fashion and Marketing, and often made outfits for bother herself and Miriallia, and I suspected that both girls were wearing Flay-originals. Her two friends, I didn't know their names, were dressed more traditionally – the black-haired girl in an school uniform, complete with tie and calf-socks, while the brunette in pigtails was wearing a princess-cut top and capris with three belts on each leg. I didn't recognize either girl from the college, and wondered if they were standard secondary school students, rather than in an advance placement program.

Flay giggled at something her friends were saying, and then looked up to exclaim, "Huh? Miriallia!"

"Hi!" Miriallia called back as we stood in line behind the group of girls.

The black-haired girl pounced on the back of the brunette, saying "Hey, I'll bet you know, Miriallia."

Hedging, my friend asked, "Know what?"

"Come on! Stop it!" Flay admonished.

Pig-tails revealed, "She got a letter from Sai Argyle! But she says nothing's going on, and won't tell us anything."

I was shocked – usually guys only sent letters when they were serious, but I hadn't noticed any change in Sai. The girls continued to prattle as I looked at Flay. For her part, Flay finally seemed to have enough, and admonished her friends, "Would you girls put it to rest?"

She'd raised her hand, as if to hit them, but the girls just danced away, giggling.

"Ahem," a woman standing behind Tolle and I cleared her throat. When we both turned to look, she asked, "If you're not moving on, mind if I do?"

The woman was right, of course, two cars had arrived while we'd been listening to the drama.

"Oh, sorry. Please," Tolle said, and we stepped aside so that the woman and her two companions could pass.

Flay's group also let the trio pass, and Flay admonished her friends, "What's the big deal, anyway? Let's go!"

"Hey! Wait!" one of her friends called out, the other echoing, "Wait!"

The two secondary schoolers followed their leader, the raven-haired girl suggesting, "Let's go to Ralsvy first before we go shopping. They may still have those parfait rolls they're making for a limited time."

Frowning, I tried to figure out where this left me with Flay. Sure, I had only met her a couple of times, but she was pretty, and funny, and modest, and beautiful – pretty much everything a guy could want in a girl.

"Sai wrote her a letter?" Tolle mused, "To Flay Allster? That's a surprise. But he could prove to be a strong rival for you, Mr. Kira Yamato."

Miriallia giggled, while I tried to lie, "But I'm not really interested in Flay."

They weren't falling for it, and ribbed me pretty hard from the back seat of the taxi. As I was paying, I sat up front, which was fine by Tolle and Miriallia as they sat next to each other in the back seat. Moving steadily, the car turned towards the Morgenroete facility where Professor Kato had his robotics lab.

Tolle was offering to play ice-breaker for me, saying, "What's the problem? If you can't ask, I will."

Running my security card through the popup barrier controls, I admonished, "You're being a pest, Tolle."

Morgenroete was a semi-nationalized company with its corporate headquarters on Onogoro Island in the Orb Union, with satellite facilities on various resource satellites throughout the solar system. It was notorious for being the Orb Union's major source of defensive weaponry, but most of its work was in legitimate scientific endeavors, like the work of Professor Kato. The company had a zero-tolerance policy on discrimination, and employed most of the coordinators who hadn't immigrated to the PLANTs.

We entered the suite of rooms set aside as Professor Kato's lab to find that we'd been beaten there by Sai and Kuzzey. Both were busy with their work, Kuzzey calling out a, "Hi," as we entered without looking up from his computer monitor.

Leaning around his monitor, Sai cheered, "Oh, Kira. You finally made it."

Seeing him reminded me that I hadn't completed the program for the professor, and the reported letter that he'd sent to Flay. Before I could ask, though, I noticed that we had a guest – blond haired and brown eyed, wearing a trench coat and a news-boy hat. The really strange thing was that I felt like I had seen the young man before – the feeling being similar to what I'd felt while staring at my own face this morning.

Tolle stepped over to Kuzzey and stage-whispered, "Who's that?" while pointing rather rudely at the young man.

"Oh, a guest to see the professor. He was apparently told to wait here," Kuzzey responded dully, not enjoying being pulled out of his work.

Stepping up, I asked, "And? Where's the professor?" As much as I wasn't looking forward to being handed more work I hated being left waiting. I'd once heard the military described as 'hurry up and wait', and knew that wasn't something I could do.

Sai came to my rescue, holding up an SSD and happily announcing, "He handed me this. What is it? I'm assuming it's work for Morgenroete."

Reading the serial number on the label and explained, "Nothing special. It's regarding improving the frame setup module. It's simply a program analysis." The last I added happily, because that wouldn't take me long at all.

Tolle snuck up behind me and put me in a headlock. "More importantly," he stressed, "Ask about the letter!"

Sai looked confused, or maybe troubled, and asked, "Letter?"

"N-No, it's nothing!" I assured my friend.

"It's not nothing!" Tolle countered, tightening his grip to the point that he was almost choking me. I knew he was just being playful, but if the guy wasn't careful I was going to break out of the hold, and I wasn't sure if I could do that without hurting Tolle.

Sai was more direct, asking, "What is it?"

"Well, you see . . .," I dissembled.

Sensing that I was about to lie, Sai asked, "What is it, Tolle? Just tell me."

"Let go! You're choking me!" I warned, wanting nothing more than to get out of the embarrassing situtaiton.

"Not so fast! Not until you tell him!" Tolle said.

I slipped the hold, twisting Tolle's arm behind his back and forcing my roommate onto his toes with the sudden reversal. "I don't want to talk about it," I said, turning the boy to his girlfriend and giving him a slight shove forward.

"Well, if you don't want to talk then let's see the program you were working on earlier," Sai allowed – the professor had made him team leader, so it was his call to make.

Tolle, our usual test monkey, climbed into the frame we were using to simulate an Extra-Vehicular Activity suit, with Kuzzey helping to attach leads and Miriallia stood next to the kill switch in case the frame's actuator-enhanced joints tried to hyper extend again. Meanwhile, with Sai looking over my shoulder I transferred the program that I had been working on, and then completed it quickly. While we both ran the diagnostic program Tolle ran the frame through the basic movements.

"That's amazing," Sai said as he decoded the algorithms by sight.

"Let me see," Miriallia exclaimed, trading the watch detail with Kuzzey as she came over.

When she was halfway across the lab the ground shook, nearly spilling all of us onto the floor. "An asteroid?" Sai wondered, but a different thought leapt into my mind, and from the look of our guest he had the same idea: an attack!

Getting to his feet, Sai took charge, saying, "We need to head towards the shelter. Kuzzey, Kira, help Tolle out of the frame; Miriallia, help me back up the data, just in case."

"Okay," we all called out, and even our guest was caught up in Sai's charisma and deigned to help out.

We got out quickly and headed for the stairwell, as elevators were taken offline in the face of an asteroid strike or other disaster. If the colony was depressurized an unsealed elevator car was the last place anyone wanted to be. So, the cars deposited people on the nearest floor, and it was up to them to make it down to the shelters that were dotted across the colony in case of emergency.

The ground shook again, and Miriallia spoke for the group when she asked, "What was that?" Meanwhile, Sai managed to force the door into the stairwell open to find people heading towards shelters.

"What's the matter?" our defacto leader asked.

"I don't know," one man answered dismissively.

The next man explained, "We're under attack by ZAFT! Mobile Suits have entered the colony! You people had better hurry, too!"

I felt like something heavy had dropped into my stomach, and I turned to keep an eye on our guest just in time to see the blond boy take off down the hall. While Sai was admonishing the others to follow him, I called out, "Hey, you!"

Fairly sure the newcomer didn't know his way around, I took off after him, staggering against another ground shake and calling back to my friends, "I'll be right back!"

Quickly running down the boy, I grabbed his arm and demanded, "What are you doing? It's no use going that way."

"Why are you following me?" he countered. "You'd better run away from here!"

The threat fell flat, but as the ground shook again a back-blast of wind rushed past as, knocking the boy's hat off. Blinking past the dust, I looked up, and without the hat realized that the boy I was talking to was actually a girl. "I know you," I said, trying to think back to when I had seen this girl before, but coming up with a blank.

"Yea, well, I don't know you," she shot back, "Now, stop following me. Just go! There's something I have to check out here first!"

Whoever she was, she was really pushy, and had no clue how to get around, because she was heading straight for an emergency bulkhead that closed to funnel people towards the emergency shelters.

"That's easy to say, but where do I go?" I argued, gesturing towards a collapsed hall behind us, "I can't exactly return."

She stared at me fiercely, but I could see panic in her brown eyes. I could see in her eyes that she was scared but determined, and again I couldn't help but wonder where I knew her from. Unfortunately, the immediate problem was getting to one of the shelters, and I looked around to get my bearings.

"Let's see," I mused. "Here, this way!"

Grabbing her hand, I turned a corner and started running, ignoring her admonishment of, "Let go, you fool!"

"Fool?" I shock back.

Tears coming to her eyes, the girl admitted, "I never expected to get stuck in here."

"D-Don't worry! I'll help you," I promised. "There are still shelters left in the factory district," which was where we were headed.

We ran towards the end of a hall where we could see daylight only to find ourselves standing on a balcony overlooking a battle between Morgenroete technicians and ZAFT forces. The ZAFT forces, coordinators all, were wearing green and red vacuum suits, hinting that they had snuck aboard via one of the external hatches. Two massive mobile gantries were supporting 20 meter tall mobile suits, and realized that the two forces were fighting over the MS.

"Wh-Why this is . . .?!" I stammered, realizing that Morgenroete must have built the mobile suits, otherwise they would have been at the other end of the colony, at the shipyard where Earth Alliance and ZAFT forces sometimes docked to resupply food, water, and air.

Next to me, the girl sagged to her knees, bemoaning, "I knew it. The Earth Forces' new model mobile weapons. Father, you've betrayed us!"

Her exclamation drew the attention of one of the fighters, a woman in an orange jumpsuit who was clambering over one of the mobile suits. I grabbed the girl's arm, admonishing, "This is crazy!" before pulling her away from the scene. Behind us, a few bullets embedded themselves into the wall where we'd been viewing the skirmish.

Fortunately the woman recognized that we were non-combatants and stopped shooting as we dashed down another hallway, towards the closest emergency shelter. Unfortunately, my companion was half-blind for crying, slowing us down.

"Crying won't do any good!" I shouted at her. "Come on! Run!"

Industrial District Shelters 038 were ahead, and with relief I saw a green light over the middle of the three shelters. A lift would take us down to an armored, pressurized, shelter, and I pressed the button to open the doors, flashing a reassuring smile to my companion.

"See?" I encouraged, "Some people have evacuated here."

"Is there still someone out there?" a voice responded from the shelter's wall-comm.

"Yes! A friend and I need to get in!" I responded. "Please let us in!"

In my mind there was no reason for us to be denied.

"Two of you?"

"Yes!" Why was this taking so long?

"We're full here," the man on the other end of the comm responded. He wasn't telling the complete truth; if the shelter had been full the light above the door would have turned red. What he probably meant was that they only had one seat left.

In case of catastrophic damage to the colony, the shelters were designed to serve as lifeboats, but in that case the oxygen scrubbers could only manage to support a certain number of people. Too many, and everyone onboard would slowly suffer from carbon dioxide poisoning. Depending on how long it took for rescue and recovery teams to arrive, those in an overburdened shelter could end up dying.

"There are 37 shelters in the left block. Can't you make it there?" the man controlling the door asked.

I looked back the way I came, at the smoke rising from the Factory District, the sound of gunfire and the occasional flash of an explosive. "Then please take my friend," I requested, "She's just a girl!"

After a moment, the man replied, "Very well!" Recognizing the position he was putting me in, the man apologized, "Sorry!"

When the door opened, I told the girl, "Get in." When she didn't move fast enough I pushed her into the lift

"What are you . . . ? I . . .," she exclaimed, brought out of her reverie by my rough action.

"Just get in!" I told her. "I'll go to the other side. I'll be alright. Hurry!" With my genetically altered strength I pushed her into the lift, and before she could recover I pushed the button to close the doors.

"Wait! You . . .," the girl said as the doors closed and the lift dropped. The light over the door turned red – the lift would not be returning – so I turned on my heels and started sprinting to the far side of the Factory District.

Spotting a ZAFT soldier in a green pressure suit on the balcony, I called down to the Morgenroete technicians, "Watch out! Behind you!"

The woman who had shot at me earlier twisted into a crouch, brought up her rifle, and sprayed bullets in the general direction of the ZAFT soldier. At the extreme range of the rifle's accuracy, one or two of the bullets managed a lucky shot, bringing the soldier down, but the woman started fussing with her rifle. Either it had jammed or she was out of bullets, and when one of her fellows was shot she pulled out a pistol and took down another of the green-suits.

"Come here!" she called out to me.

I told her, "Thank you, but I'm going to the shelters in the left block! Please, ignore me!"

"There's nothing but a door there," she shouted up at me, perhaps meaning that the hall behind the door had collapsed.

As if to back up her words, fire, smoke, and debris, was ejected from another hallway, leaving me with few options. Taking a set of stairs down to a lower balcony, I leapt the rail and freefell to the mobile suit only to find that the armor plate wasn't quite horizontal. I stumbled the landing, and ended up sprawled on my chest staring down at the shoulder assembly.

On the factory floor, the skirmish had been whittled down to just two Morgenroete technicians and two ZAFT officers in red suits. As I scrambled to my feet one of the red suits stood up at the wrong time and took several shots to the chest had helmet. He collapsed back to the floor. In retaliation, his companion raced out of cover and shot the offending technician, coming around to shoot the woman as well before his rifle, too, ran out of bullets.

I skipped across uneven armor plates to the woman's side as the ZAFT officer abandoned his rifle and used maneuvering thrusters on his suit to leap onto the mobile suit with a knife in hand. Looking up, I had a vague notion of trying to protect the woman, but when I saw the face behind the transparent visor of the attacker I gasped, "Athrun?"

Hearing his name brought Athrun Zala up short, and he stopped just a couple feet away with his green eyes wide and the knife raised to strike. "Kira?" he said, as startled to see me as I was to see him.

There were explosions in the background, but the pair of us seemed frozen in the moment, each trying to figure out what the other was doing there. Athrun relaxed his posture, and I stood up, both of us waiting for the other to speak first. We probably would have stared at each other for another minute, but the woman with a bullet in her right shoulder managed to raise the gun in that hand and take a couple of poorly aimed shots that had the effect of sending Athrun, in his red ZAFT pressure suit, scrambling for cover.

He fled towards the other mobile suit, while the woman forced herself to her feet and pushed me into the cockpit before following. She triggered the cockpit closed as the fires set during the skirmish on the factory floor finally reached the nearby fuel depot, causing massive explosions. With the flip of switches and the manipulation of controls, the woman brought up monitors that showed the image going from vertical, staring up at the colony above, to horizontal, staring out at the Morgenroete facilities. My ears popped with the sudden change in altitude, and I realized that the mobile suit was standing up.

End Episode One: False Peace


	2. Its Name is Gundam

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Fan Fiction

Episode 2: Its Name is Gundam

Date: January 25th, Cosmic Era 71

In the 70th year of the Cosmic Era, war broke out between the Earth and the PLANTs due to the Bloody Valentine tragedy. Everyone expected the larger Earth Forces to dominate the battlefield, but anyone betting on a few one-sided battles was proved wrong when the PLANTs deployed combat vehicles known as 'mobile suits'. A combination of high mobility and devastating firepower compensated for the lack of numbers, and almost eleven months later the war was still ongoing, with no end in sight.

Fielding older style 'mobile armors' the Earth Forces usually counted themselves lucky if they managed a stalemate – they needed an edge, and somehow had convinced the neutral nation of Orb to build mobile suits for them.

Shoved into the cockpit of the EF mobile suit, I fell onto the seat only to have a woman in a yellow jumpsuit and web belt fall into my lap. "Get behind the seat," she ordered, lifting her butt so that I could squirm out of the way.

Looking at the numerous controls on the console in front of her, the woman sounded like she was trying to reassure herself when she said, "The machine, at least . . . Even I should be able to move it."

She wasn't the pilot, which was made obvious as she hesitated over the controls, successfully powering up the mobile suit, the central monitor coming active first giving the perspective that we were staring down at a giant's prone body. The left monitor activated next, showing an image of the second mobile suit on the factory floor in its transport cradle. My friend, Athrun Zala, had taken cover in that mobile suit, but he was a member of ZAFT now, and had been part of a team of soldiers sent to either steal or destroy the MS. I had watched him kill Morgenroete, or perhaps disguised Earth Federation, personnel to fulfill his mission, and had only kept him from killing the woman I was sharing the cockpit with by the surprise of being there.

I struggled to come to terms with my old friend being here, at the Heliopolis Morgenroete facility wearing a ZAFT uniform. The Athrun Zala I remembered had been a kind person, who had hated the thought of war, and would only ever raise his fists in the defense of others. When we had parted years earlier it had been with the hope that the treaty signed between the PLANTs and the Orb Union would be the first of many that would result in a lasting peace.

My ruminating was interrupted when I noticed the mobile suit starting up its operating system: Mobile Suit Operation System, Version nv9-N099, O.M.N.I.

I was shocked, because the O.M.N.I. operating system was what my friends and I had been working on for Professor Kato. O.M.N.I. was supposed to stand for Oppose Militancy & Neutralize Invasion, but an addition to the startup screen added the word 'Enforcer' to the end. The screen was overlaid by another, which read:

General

Unilateral

Neuro-Link

Dispersive

Automatic

Maneuver

Synthesis

The first letter of each word was red, creating the acronym 'GUNDAM'. "Gundam," I said aloud, trying out the word.

Manipulating the controls, the woman was able to stand the mobile suit up, the cockpit rotating so that it retained a horizontal position. Outside, explosions from within the Morgenrote facility channeled fireballs into the factory floor, creating a dramatic backdrop as the Gundam achieved and upright position. Unfortunately, that seemed to be the extent of the pilot's ability as she frantically looked for the controls she wanted and sent the mobile suit rocketing into the air.

Next to us, Athrun managed a more controlled launch, and landing – our MS staggered like a drunk co-ed who'd missed the last step coming down stairs. We nearly stepped on people fleeing the area as the military officer struggled to control the machine using an operating system that was almost three months out of date. She brought up random windows on the monitors that focused on the ZAFT mobile suits and various people running away.

I recognized a quartet in the crowd – Tolle, Sai, Miriallia, and Kuzzey, still together and fleeing in terror. Why hadn't they found a shelter already, I wondered? Granted, my attempt to find a shelter hadn't worked because I spent so much time trying to chase down that one girl. My friends should have had more than enough time to find a shelter in Morgenroete.

Leaning across the pilot's seat, I called out to my friends, belatedly realizing that it was useless, and distracting the already overwhelmed pilot. When a ZAFT mobile suit took a shot at us the woman only managed to dodge, and we were both shaken pretty hard as the ground beneath and behind where the Gundam had been standing exploded. The best we could manage was a shuffling walk as the enemy MS approached carrying a sword that was proportional to the 20 meter tall machine.

Firing the thrusters on the legs and back, the woman in the pilot's seat barely managed to clear the slash of the enemy unit, landing heavily, which sent me bouncing around until I collapsed into her lap. "Stay back!" the woman shrieked, "Do you want to die?!"

"I'm sorry!" I apologized, trying to struggle back into my small perch.

Looking up, I saw through the main monitor the approaching mobile suit, and cried out in surprise when the enemy unit leapt into the air with its sword over its head, intending to add momentum to its swing. The woman reached out to press a switch on the console, and then positioned the arms over the Gundam's head to block the strike. I was expecting our unit to be cleaved in tow, but in a shower of sparks the armor plates I'd scampered across a couple minutes earlier resisted the blade.

"This mobile suit . . .," I wondered, remembering seeing other projects Professor Kato was working on.

Across the parking lot that was our battle field, Athrun's mobile suit turned from shades of gray to red and black, and he used a pair of head-mounted guns to shoot down two laser-guided rockets and take down a military truck with rocket launchers on the back. There was a moment I was afraid that he would join the combat, but then his MS launched into the air, heading towards the docks. Meanwhile, the remaining ZAFT MS launched itself at us, sword at the ready. Perhaps taking a page from what she had just seen, the pilot fired head cannons, which the enemy pilot dodged with efficient movements.

Performing an economic movement of her own, the pilot managed to turn 90 degrees and dodge the strike, but the next attack landed, nearly shaking me out of my perch next to the pilot's seat. Another attack sent us crashing into a building. People had been hiding into that building, and fled into the streets again to escape the collapse. Through the side monitor I saw my friend were with that group, Miriallia turning to look back until Sai grabbed her by the shoulders and guided her away. Tolle had turned around when he'd realized Miriallia wasn't behind him, and all three were in the way as the woman piloting the Gundam backed towards them.

Kuzzey had even turned around and rejoined the group as the ZAFT mobile suit lunged with its sword. The pilot was going to take a step back, right on my friends, so I reached forward and hit a button that caused the Gunam to kneel. Then I grabbed one of the controls and manipulated it so that the Gundam lunged, shouldering the enemy MS in the lower abdomen, driving it backwards. Surprised, the ZAFT pilot was not able to recover in time, and ended up falling on his ass.

"How?" the woman asked.

"There are still people here," I pointed out, hitting a few of the commands I understood, bringing up the OS. "If you're gonna ride something like this, try putting it to use!"

O.M.N.I. had been designed to help manipulate the actuators in a human-sized suit, not a massive combat robot. "This is nuts!" I exclaimed, "How do they expect to move complex machinery using this kind of OS?"

"It hasn't been completed yet!" the woman in the pilot's seat explained. "It can't be helped!"

That was a poor excuse, and I realized that despite her jumpsuit this woman was no technician. She could make the Gundam move, but couldn't do more than that – I had more experience with this type of machinery than she did. Realizing this, I requested, "Please move! Hurry!"

Something in my voice had her scrambling out of the seat, allowing me to take her place. With better access to the controls I started programming from memory, wishing that I had the others to back up my work. The ZAFT machine lunged again, but I was able to stop its momentum by using the head guns, which seemed great for taking out missiles but not so effective against the other mobile suit's armor plates. It lunged again, and I raised the left shoulder so that the blade thrust missed, then followed up with a right cross to the enemy machine's head, knocking it back.

With an opening, I turned back to the OS, running through the steps in my mind. Take the calibrations and reset the zero moment point and CPG. Then connect the control module directly to the molecular ion pump!

Why hadn't they done that in the first place?

Reconstruct the neural linkage network!

I deviated the value so that I could use the machine more effectively. Unfortunately, this value was buried pretty deeply in the program, and would require a lot of work to undo.

Renew meta-active field, reactivate feed forward controls, convey function! Adjust Coriolis deviation! Connect to motion routines!

The OS flashed that it was updated as the ZAFT mobile suit rose to its feet and sheathed the sword, pulling out a rifle that was also proportional to the 20 meter machine – even though the machine could apparently shoot it one-handed. I took a couple of hits, staggering slightly.

People were still milling about, apparently mesmerized by the battle, so I used the thrusters to launch us into the air. A few slight maneuvers kept me from being hit again.

"Weapons," I reasoned, and used the keyboard to search for available weapons. However, all I found was a pair of 75mm Vulcan guns on the head and a pair of assault knives at the hips. "Igelstelung, and Armor-Schneider?" I wondered at the weapon designations provided.  
>"Is this it?"<p>

We landed, and I put the Gundam into a dash to close the distance while the ZAFT machine took pot-shots at me, deploying the Armor-Schneider. "Not here," I shouted at my opponent while using the thrusters to close the last hundred yards, "Stop it!"

Maneuvering around to the side I rammed one of the assault knives into the enemy MS's neck on either side, causing the ZAFT combat robot to lose power. Lower on the chest, a hatch opened and the pilot jumped out – he wore a green pressure suit with maneuvering thrusters on the back, which he used to launch himself away.

"This isn't good," the military officer next to me warned. "Step away from the GINN!"

I wasn't able to get away in time, and the Gundam was rocked by the explosion of the enemy unit, the GINN. Losing her perch, the already injured military officer hit her head and passed out as I regained control of the Gundam. Not knowing what to do next, I figured out external communications and called to my friends, spotting them at the edge of the Morgenroete factory district. They stared in shock as I walked over and knelt nearby before opening the cockpit and waving for them.

"Help," I called out, "This woman is injured."

The Gundam had an entry assist feature, a cable with a stirrup at the end. Sai grabbed it, and I brought him up so that he could help me carry the woman out of the cockpit. We carried her to a covered area – a park the Morgenroete workers used to relax and exercise – and laid her on a bench so that Miriallia could apply a dressing and bandage to the woman's bullet wound. As far as we could tell that was the only serious injury.

Meanwhile, the others helped me update the OS – if we had to use the Gundam again I wanted a program actually designed to operate a giant machine rather than an exoskeleton. We were almost complete when I heard Miriallia call my name.

Awake, but obviously in pain, I recommended, "Oh, you'd better stay still for now."

She was looking at me in fear, so I went on, "I apologize. I got kinda carried away in there."

Miriallia had run over to a vending machine and come back with a bottle. "Care for some water?" she asked the woman.

"Thank you," the woman replied, accepting the offering. I helped her sit up so that she could drink.

Behind us, Kuzzey called, "This is awesome, this so-called Gundam!"

"Does it move, or doesn't it?" Tolle responded as he sat in the cockpit.

From the ground, Sai warned, "Guys! Stop playing with it!"

"Why did it turn gray?" Kuzzey wondered, examining the left elbow joint.

Tolle opinioned, "Maybe it's a sign the main battery's outta power."

"Stay away from that machine!" the woman ordered, pulling the pistol from her web belt and firing a shot into the upper torso of the Gundam.

Tolle and Kuzzey recoiled as the bullet hit over their heads and sent out sparks. Pistol still in hand, the woman struggled to her feet and stalked towards the trio next to the mobile suit.

"What do you think you're doing?" I admonished, running over. "Please stop it!"

I explained, "Those are the guys you carried you out while you were unconscious!"

For my efforts, she pointed the gun at me. "I'm grateful that you saved me," she reasoned, "But that thing is a top military secret! It's not something civilians should be allowed to touch thoughtlessly!"

Tolle scoffed, "Give me a break! It was Kira piloting it a moment ago."

For his cheek, she leveled the gun at them again. "All of you, this way," she ordered, gesturing with the gun for the five of us to stand together.

Miriallia hid behind Tolle and I as the woman requested, "Tell me your names, one at a time."

The defacto leader, Sai spoke first, saying his name, "Sai Argyle."

"Kuzzey Buskirk."

"Tolle Koenig."

"Miriallia Haw."

She leveled the gun at me, and I told her my name, "Kira Yamato."

"I'm Murrue Ramius," she introduced herself. "I'm an officer with the Earth Alliance Forces. I hate to say this, but I cannot allow you to leave."

That was insane – we had to get to a shelter until the attack ended, and the attack wouldn't end until the Gundam was either captured, destroyed, or secured wherever the Earth Alliance had been trying to take it. "What?" more than one of us exclaimed.

"Regardless of how it happened, the fact is that you have seen a top military secret," the EAF officer repeated. "Until I reach the appropriate authorities and it is determined how the situation will be handled, you have no choice but to remain with me at all times."

We had a choice, of course, just not a very good one. I had seen the woman use firearms effectively, so she could shoot us if we tried to run.

"You're kidding!" Miriallia exclaimed, and Kuzzey echoed her, saying, "Are you outta your mind?"

"That's ludicrous!" Tolle added.

"You will do as I say!" the woman pressed.

Sai pointed out, "We're citizens of Heliopolis! We're neutral! We have nothing to do with the military!"

"He's right," Kuzzey agreed. "Besides, why are Earth Forces present in Heliopolis in the first place? That in itself makes no sense!"

Tolle went on, "Right! That's how all this happened to begin with!"

Murrue Ramius fired two shots into the air, effectively ending the argument. "Quiet," she ordered. "You kids don't understand anything! By declaring that you're neutral and have nothing to do with this, you can still distance yourself from what's happening! You don't really believe that, do you?"

"The Earth Forces' most vital secret was here," she explained, "and you people saw it. That is the reality you people face right now."

"That's being kinda rough," Sai complained, but I could tell by his tone that the fight had gone out of him.

"It may well be pretty rough," the woman agreed. "But we're in the midst of a war here. Between the PLANTs and Earth. Between Coordinators and Naturals. Outside of the world you live in."

Giving in, Sai asked, "What do you want us to do, march to the harbor?"

Shaking her head, but not letting her guard down, the woman explained, "We need to figure out what's going on there first. Kira, I want you to get back in the Strike and try to contact Earth Alliance Forces. You are to use the call sign 'X105 Strike'. Sai, Kuzzey, I need you to retrieve the number 5 trailer from the factory district. Tolle, Miriallia, you will stay with me – if your friends do not return I will shoot you. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," we all responded, and I moved over to the Gundam, the Strike, to ride up the egress line.

Sorting through the electronic interference was difficult, forcing me to make minute adjustments in search of a frequency that worked. "X105 Strike here, Earth Forces, please respond," I repeated a couple of times on each channel, "Earth Forces, please respond!"

Finally, I got back some spotty signal returns; either someone was trying to contact the Strike or it was just the message bouncing off the interference. Unfortunately, the communications system was incomplete, so I couldn't boost the signal to find out. I climbed out of the cockpit to report as Sai drove up in a transport truck, the bed supporting a massive equipment container.

"The number five trailer you asked for," Sai clarified, "That's the one, right?"

"Yes. Right. Thank you," the Ramius responded.

"And?" Sai demanded, "What do you want us to do after this?"

The woman explained, "Get the Striker Pack. Once that's done, Kira, try contacting them one more time."

"Okay," I agreed, still reluctant, getting back into the mobile suit.

There was enough power to move over to the equipment container and knelt next to it. "Which is the power pack?" I asked when the container had opened to reveal a backpack and shoulder unit for the Strike that both had integrated weapons.

Ramius called back from her place under the pavilion, "The weapons and power pack are together in one unit! Mount the whole unit!"

Above, an explosion knocked equipment off of the pillar that ran down the center of the cylinder-shaped space colony; a ZAFT mobile suit emerging from the smoke, followed by some type of mobile armor. The EAF officer shouted, "Mount the equipment! Hurry!" as the two machines passed by so close that my friends were almost knocked off their feet by the thruster wash.

The mobile armor was doing its best to find off the mobile suit, and I could tell that both were prodigious pilots, but the ZAFT machine had the edge in mobility and versatility, but human-shaped, while the Earth Alliance machine looked like a rocket with an under-slung rail-cannon. Near the center of the colony's internal space, gravity was light, allowing the MA to move normally, but closer to the ground, centrifugal forces started pulling things down, and the pilot lost maneuverability. Screaming in fear, I felt the backpack unit connect and saw the power indicators pick up – I had power, so I hit the button I'd seen Ramius hit to activate the Strike's armor and stood the machine up.

Producing a massive cloud of debris, a section of the hillside next to the Morgenroete facility exploded, and from the cloud a large starship emerged, gleaming white and red as it entered the reflected sunlight. All fighting stopped as we stared up, taking in its appearance. Given that it had emerged from Morgenroete it was obvious that the ship had also been constructed by the company for Earth Alliance Forces. Mobile suits and a military cruiser – I could only imagine what affect this would have on the Orb Union's treaty with the PLANTs.

End Episode Two


	3. Collapsing Land

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Fan Fiction

Episode 3: Collapsing Land

Date: January 25th, Cosmic Era (CE) 71

The integrated weapons/battery pack locked into place, and power was restored to the X105 Strike Gundam along with a couple of new weapons options. Hanging off the backpack was a 320mm Hyper Impulse Beam Cannon called "Agni", and on the shoulder was a Combo Weapons pod which included a 120mm Vulcan gun and a pair of 350mm gun launchers. Now that I had power again I activated the Phase-Shift armor and stood the 17 meter tall mobile suit up. Both moves were just in time, as a ZAFT mobile suit, a GINN, fired its rifle aiming at where the head of the mobile suit had been, the explosive round erupting harmlessly on the upper torso armor of the Strike.

"A beam weapon?" I wondered aloud. As far as I knew beam weapons were only found on capital ships, not mobile suits.

Just then we were both distracted by a massive explosion on the hillside below the Morgenroete facility. From out of the dust and smoke came a warship of some unknown type, gleaming white and red in the sunlight that was being reflected into the space station via mirrors. The GINN's pilot determined that the warship was the priority target, and opened fire on the massive craft, which surprisingly dodged the assault. Likely realizing that its one conventional rifle wasn't going to do much damage, the GINN pilot reloaded and turned back towards me.

The GINN shot the ground in front of me, and for a moment I thought that he might have been unnerved by the appearance of the warship, but then I realized that he was aiming for my unprotected friends on the ground!

Kneeling, I was prepared to sacrifice the leg of the Strike to protect my friends, but the PS armor deflected the bullets. With a start, I realized that they had been armor piercing, but the cockpit systems showed no damage beyond a slight energy drain. The GINN was also suddenly occupied by four missiles launched by the warship, which it either shot down or dodged. He dodged by flying close to the tether that ran down the center of the cylinder-shaped space colony, it's connecting cables helping to stabilize the spin of the colony being weakened by the explosions.

One of the cables came loose, centrifugal force sending it crashing to the interior wall of the colony.

"Wha . . .?! You've gotta be kidding!" I swore. Bringing the weapons options back up I picked the Agni, because the Vulcan guns had been useless on the last GINN I'd fought. This brought up the targeting system, which zeroed in on the ZAFT mobile suit. Unfortunately, my target's combat reflexes had him dodging out of the way in time, but I did manage to hit the GINN's rifle, which exploded, mangling the arm that had been holding it.

The torrent of energy launched by the cannon didn't stop there, though, and continued on to hit the wall of the colony, burning through vegetation, earth, and metal, to create a near perfect circle exposing the interior of the colony to vacuum.

I stared up in horror at what I had done while the GINN turned and fled through the hole that I had just created. Fortunately, the hole wasn't big enough to be an immediate threat, but it would have to be plugged before the colony could be viable again. Any more damage and the shelters that almost everyone had taken refuge in would be ejected as lifeboats. My immediate concern was my friends, who were out in the open in an environment that was slowly losing oxygen.

Murrue Ramius, the Earth Alliance officer who was technically holdings us all hostage, waved her arms, and I opened the cockpit to hear what she was saying. "We need to get to the _Archangel_," she call out. "Lower your hands, and you can carry us."

I did as she said, being very conscious of the movements, especially once I lifted everyone to the lower abdomen. They held onto the fingers as I used the Strike's integrated thrusters to head over to the warship that was landing near where it had emerged from the hillside. As we got closer I could use the communication system integrated into the weapons pods to make clear contact with the ship, and Ramius arranged for us to come aboard.

The port-side hanger opened, and landing there I lowered everyone to the deck. No sooner had they all stepped off when a contingent of Earth Alliance officers in uniform came out of an elevator, the one in the lead shouting, "Lieutenant Ramius!"

"Ensign Badgiruel," Ramius responded as the party closed the distance at a run.

The EA uniform was white and grey, with a gold-trimmed red collar. The woman, Ensign Badgiruel, had black shoulders to her uniforms while the others had grey shoulders. She had black hair, and looked good in the knee-length pencil skirt she was wearing as part of her uniform, standing with perfect poise and what I supposed was military bearing.

Snapping to attention, Badgiruel saluted, announcing, "I'm relieved to see that you're safe!"

Ramius returned the salute, dropping her hand first. "And you. I'm pleased to see that you were able to protect the Archangel." In a confessionary tone, she admitted, "You saved us."

I opened the cockpit and used the stirrup-ended cable to lower myself to the ground, garnering the attention of the EA personnel.

A big guy with black hair and a dark skintone, wearing an orange and off-white jumpsuit remarked, "Come on. What's going on here? He's only a kid." To one of the EA personnel he asked, "You mean that child piloted that thing?"

Others complained, but I was more interested in checking on my friends. They gathered around me while the Ensign asked Ramius for information – apparently they didn't know much more than we did. Or, maybe they were talking about me, because the senior officer threw me a concerned look.

"Wow, what a surprise," another voice broke in, and a tall blond man in a purple accented flight suit stepped up. By way of introduction, he said, "I'm Lieutenant Mu La Flaga of the 7th Orbital Fleet. Nice to meet you."

He then threw up a salute that looked far more relaxed then the two women had exchanged. Everyone in uniform saluted back, and Ramius responded, "I'm Lieutenant Murrue Ramis of Sector 2, 5th Special Division."

Badgiruel echoed her, "Ensign Natarle Badgiruel of the same division!"

"I'd like authorization to board this ship," LT La Flaga requested. "Who's in charge here?"

The ensign dropped her eyes and did not immediately respond, an action that caught LT Ramius' attention. Badgiruel admitted, "The captain and top officers of this ship have all perished in battle. I believe Lieutenant Ramius is now in the position of responsibility."

Ramius' shoulders slumped at the news, as if the weight of the ship had suddenly settled on them as the ensign went on, "Only a dozen or so of us were saved, mostly non-commissioned officers. Fortunately, being in the shaft, I was able to escape danger."

For all her talk of escaping death, the woman sounded like she regretted not dying at the captain's side.

Not believing what she was hearing, Murrue questioned, "The captain? How could that be?"

"Oh, man. What a disaster," La Flaga muttered while rubbing his eyebrow. "In any case, please give me permission, Lieutenant Ramius. The ship that I came in has been shot down."

"Ah, sure. I grant you permission," the only officer not in uniform allowed.

With that formality out of the way, attention turned to the five of us standing next to the Strike. Or rather, attention turned to me, as Lt. La Flaga asked, "And who's that?"

Ramius explained, "As you can see, she's a civilian teenager. For some reason, he was in the factory district while we were under attack. I let him on the G-weapon. His name is Kira Yamato."

La Flaga faced me head on, a knowing smile tugging at one corner of his mouth as Ramius tried to dissemble, "Th-Thanks to him, we were able to fight off a GINN . . . and protect this one machine."

That surprised the assembled officers and crew, with Badgiruel repeating, "Fight off a GINN?" Perhaps she was thinking of the mobile suit that had been driven off when I'd fired the Agni. "That kid did that?"

The pilot revealed, "I came here as an escort to the young pilots trained to pilot that." He nodded to the Strike. "Where are they?"

Ensign Badgiruel answered, "We were bombed when they were in the control booth . . . being welcomed by the captain. So they too . . ."

She couldn't complete her sentince, but it seemed she didn't need to, as La Flaga murmured, "I see."

He stepped up to me, the two other officer falling in a step behind, and the other Earth Alliance forces forming behind them.

"Wh-What is it?" I asked, fairly sure where this was going.

Mu La Flaga actually looked kind as he asked, "You're a Coordinator, aren't you?"

It was actually rather rude of him to come out and ask that, but I supposed that the military had their own way of doing things. The pronouncement seemed to catch most people by surprise, including Sai and Kuzzey. When I admitted as much a quartet of security officers standing nearby readied their rifles.

The others came to my defense, with Tolle standing between me and the security officers, who'd actually leveled their weapons at us, and Sai stepping between me and Lieutenant La Flaga. Even Miriallia was throwing scathing looks around as she kept me from switching places with the other boys. "What do you think you're doing?" Tolle demanded.

"Tolle," I tried to warn him.

My friend went on, "He may be a Coordinator, but Kira is not an enemy! Didn't you see what went on earlier? You've gotta be outta your mind!"

"Lower you rifles," Lieutenant Ramius ordered.

Ensign Badgiruel immediately challenged her. "Lieutenant Ramius! Please explain yourself."

"There's no puzzle, is there?" Murrue explained. "The Heliopolis Colony belongs to a neutral state, after all. It's natural that some Coordinators . . . would choose to come here to avoid being involved in the war. Am I wrong, Kira?"

"No, you're right," I answered. "Especially with me being a first-generation Coordinator."

"First-generation?" one of the Earth Alliance personnel stage whispered.

Lieutenant La Flaga spoke to me, but was in fact telling the others, "Meaning your parents are Naturals." Rubbing the back of his head, Mu told the others, "Well, I apologize for causing such a stir. I was just curious. Nothing more."

"Lieutenant La Flaga," Lieutenant Ramius admonished.

"On the way here, I observed a fair number of simulations," the man in the flight suit explained, "involving the guys who were expected to pilot this . . . but not one of them could do much more than get it to move." Shaking his head, he added, "Man oh man," before wandering off.

Ensign Badgiruel called out, "Lieutenant! Where to?"

"Where to?" the man wondered, and I realized that the Ensign had expected the pilot to take command. "I landed after being shot down, and the team waiting outside is Le Creuset's."

That meant something to the military officers, who all gasped.

Mu went on, "He's one persistent fellow. If you ask me, I don't think we can afford to spend too much time here."

Sharing a look, the two female officers came to a silent agreement, and Murrue ordered, "Alright, everyone, we need to complete the supply of the _Archangel_. We need to pull equipment and supplies from Morgenroete." To one of the security officers she ordered, "Please take these young people to the enlisted barracks for the time being, then report to Ensign Badgiruel."

To us she added, "Kira, Sai, all of you; if you're caught wandering around you will be detained and questioned as potential spies. Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," we all replied, but none of us were really happy about it.

Enlisted quarters were a series of alcoves with four bucks, a simple accordion curtain the only semblance to privacy. The day had really being wearing on me – the fight, reformatting an OS from memory, and all the drama, had me happily climbing into a top bunk and nodding off. I was vaguely aware of my friends talking, but it was all background noise to me.

It was the old dream – I had recently graduated college with a degree in Electrical Engineering, but I was having trouble finding work. With my student loans coming due I started taking odd jobs, working two or three part-time jobs just to afford the little apartment I shared with two other guys in similar situations. Searching the local want-adds, I'd found a job for modeling work – no experience necessary: it turned out that some old rich guy wanted a portrait of himself before he died, but didn't wanted something showing himself as vital and vibrant rather than old and bedridden. The job was to be a body model for the painter

The mansion the guy lived in was huge . . .

A hand on my arm woke me from my doze, and I looked down from my bunk to see Miriallia. "Lieutenant Ramius is here to see you."

Rubbing my eyes, I climbed out of the bed and stepped out of the alcove to where the Lieutenant was waiting for me in the hall. She wore the same white and grey uniform of the other Earth Alliance personnel, but her shoulders were black-trimmed red, rather than grey or black. She'd also scrubbed the soot off her face and applied fresh makeup: she was pretty, but in an understated – girl-next-door kind of way.

"We will be going back into combat, soon, Kira," the woman revealed, "And I need to ask you to pilot the Strike again."

I couldn't believe her gall – I'd saved her life in the factory district, and then she'd held me and my friends at gunpoint, announcing that we had to accompany her until she could get our situation sorted out. Then she'd learned that she was the final authority in the decision process, and decided to detain us longer. "I will not do it! Please don't involve us any further in this war than you already have!"

Her brown eyes turned sad as she said my name, perhaps about to go into an impassioned speech, but I interrupted her.

"What you said earlier may be correct, that there is a war going on outside our world," I countered, fairly sure that I was speaking for my friends as well, "But we don't agree with it! We dislike war! And that is why we chose to be here in neutral territory!" Angry, I tried to accused her of dragging us into the war only to be interrupted by the intercom.

"_Lieutenant Ramius! Come to the bridge at once!_"

Stepping over to an interface on the wall, Lieutenant Ramius pressed the button for a connection and asked, "What's the matter?"

Lieutenant La Flaga's voice came over the comm, explaining, _"there are mobile suits approaching! Come up here and take command! You are the Captain."_

That shocked the woman, and she repeated, "I am?"

"_I may have seniority, but I don't know anything about this ship,"_ La Flaga explained.

Again, it looked like the weight of the ship was bearing down on the woman's shoulders as she responded, "I understand." She then gave her first order concenscious of her status: "Then prepare the Archangel for takeoff! All hands to level one battle stations! What about your mobile armor?"

"_No good!"_ the pilot responded, _"It's not ready!"_

Actually sounding decisive, the woman ordered, "Then, Lieutenant La Flaga please take charge of the CIC." She turned to us and explained, "It's like you heard. We're entering another battle. With an alert level 9 for the shelters, I can't let any of you off the ship now."

I cringed, remembering the bebacle with the beam cannon blowing a hole in the side of the colony. That was probably what had upped the alert level – the shelters would be locked down, so even if we were allowed to leave the ship we would likely die as the station bled atmosphere.

She went on, "If we can somehow overcome this and escape Heliopolis . . ."

Miriallia turned to her boyfriend and said his name, the pair sharing a meaningful look.

I did not want my friends to die, and cursed, "You people are not being fair!"

"Kira," Murrue said, echoed by Sai

I accused, "And you'll tell us that there's only one mobile suit aboard the ship, and that right now I'm the only one capable of operating it, right?"

She only nodded, and I looked away from her, mentally cursing the Earth Alliance, ZAFT, and myself for getting us all into this situation. If I had just let that stupid girl run off my friends wouldn't have hesitated, and we would probably all be in a shelter. The ZAFT forces would have gotten the Strike, destroyed the _Archangel_ and been on their way.

"Fine," I told her, "But I'm doing this for my friends."

The lieutenant agreed and headed back to the bridge of the ship, leaving me to head back to the hanger.

While I had been gone the maintenance crews had lifted the Strike into a maintenance cradle and removed the Launcher Striker Pack, returning the mobile suit to the configuration I'd first piloted it in. I used a mobile balcony to enter the cockpit, and then followed the directions of ground crew to a staging area. There, a new Striker Pack was equipped to the frame, adding its integrated battery into the mobile suit's power supply.

"Sword Striker?" I wondered. "A sword," well, that would at least keep me from blowing more holes in the colony by accident. "Odds are that won't happen again," I told myself.

I pressed the button for Phase-Shift, and then reviewed the new weapons available. There was a 15.78m Anti-ship Sword, called the "Schwert Gewehr" slung over the right shoulder, while the left shoulder held a charging station for a "Midas Messer" Beam Boomerang and the left forearm was sporting a "Panzer Eisen" Rocket Anchor that also doubled as a beam-resistant shield. When given the command to launch I leaned the mobile suit forward in preparation, and the linear catapult accelerated the Strike through he launch tunnel, out into the colony interior.

While the _Archangel_ skirted the ground, I used the thrusters to escape the centrifugal gravity of the colony. Four mobile suits had entered the colony, two GINNs carrying a pair of massive missile on each shoulder that I instinctively knew I did not want going off inside the space station. A third GINN faced off against me, firing a beam rifle that I easily dodged. Unfortunately, the blast struck another of the cables that stabilized the rotation of the colony, severing it and sending the thick coil of metal crashing to the ground. I dodged a second blast, which destroyed the secondary school, endangering a number of shelters in that area.

"I can't hit the colony!" I complained to myself. "What should I do?"

He fired again, and I used the beam-resistant shield to block the shot and used the resulting flash to get in close. Unfortunately, my inexperience with both swords and combat meant that my swing was clumsy, completely missing my target. What started was a cat-and-mouse game, where I blocked each shot leveled at me while getting used to the controls. Meanwhile, below me, the missile-equipped GINNs went after the _Archangel_, which was throwing up a lot of anti-aircraft artillery. If the warship couldn't shot down the missiles, they dodged, but that just caused more damage to the colony, another cable being severed.

I was getting good at attack and evasion when another mobile suit entered the battle.

"That mobile suit," I gasped.

The sensors identified it as GAT-X303 AEGIS, but I recognized it as the machine that my old friend, Athrun Zala, had stolen from the factory district just a few hours earlier. It was red, and possessed a shield and beam rifle as its primary weaponry, but I knew that it also had Vulcan guns in the head. The red suit rushed past me, and I dodged, only to spot the GINN that I had been fighting coming up on my right.

Using the thrusters, I dodged and pulled the Midas Messer from its charging station, a pink beam blade being emitted as I threw the weapon at the GINN. The ZAFT pilot easily dodged the attack, but after the weapon passed he ignored it, bringing up his heavy beam rifle and taking aim. Behind him, the beam boomerang reached the end of its arch and turned around, slicing through the GINN's right leg on its way back. I used the opening, cleaving with the anti-ship sword, which emitted a beam blade for a cutting edge.

The beam blade cut through the heavy armor plates of the GINN, being slowed slightly by the solid back of the weapon, but still cleaving through shoulder and torso. Hitting the thrusters, I hurried to get clear before the mobile suit exploded.

During the battle the _Archangel_ had ended up above me, and they managed to destroy one of the other GINNs. Unfortunately, it exploded right next to the tether than ran down the middle of the cylindrical colony, weakening the structure further can causing secondary explosions along the length. The Aegis moved in front of me, hovering in the low gravity environment, between me and the _Archangel_.

Over the comm I heard Ensign Badgireul demanding, _"Strike! What are you doing? We're under attack by the enemy here!"_

I prepared to attack, but hesitated. What if it was really Athrun in that mobile suit? If I attacked, I could kill him. What had happened to turn the friend of only a few summers before into a member of the PLANTs military?

We lunged at each other, but neither of us followed through, both of us reluctant to be the end of the other. Then, over the comm, I heard Athrun's voice. _"Kira. Kira Yamato! So, it is you, isn't it, Kira?"_

"Athrun," I asked before adding more conviction to my voice. "Athrun Zala!"

The _Archangel_ managed to down the last GINN, but its missiles launched wildly, locking onto the much larger tether. My mind took that in as I demanded, "Why? Why are you here?"

"_That's what I wanna know!" _he responded. _"What are you doing in that thing?"_

Beneath us, the blocks that made up the wall of the colony began breaking apart as the tether gave way. In the sudden decompression I lost control of the Strike and was sucked through one of the newly formed gaps into, and I cried out while trying franticly to control the mobile suit.

End Episode Three

NOTE: I do not own Gundam SEED, nor do I expect to make money off of this re-write. My attempt in this work is to plug plot holes present in the original material, however I may miss some plot holes, so I welcome constructive commetns.


	4. Silent Run

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Fan Fiction

Episode 4: Silent Run

Date: January 25th, CE 71

I don't know why my parents altered my genetics, but for all the brilliance they had given me, there were some things that the mind simply could not process quickly. The debris field of a resource satellite, a colony that you had called home for years, being strewn out before you, was one of those things. On the radio, Ensign Natarl Badgiruel's demands of, _"X105 Strike! Respond!"_ went unanswered as the mobile suit I was piloting drifted through the cloud of debris.

She kept trying, though, repeating, _"X105 Strike! Can you hear me? Respond!"_

Finally I was able to give words to my shocked state: "Heliopolis . . . destroyed?"

In the background, I heard the Ensign repeat, _"X105 Strike, respond! X105 Strike! Can you hear me? Respond!_

"Why?" I asked myself. Why had Heliopolis been destroyed?

The battle, I reminded myself. ZAFT forces had entered the colony with heavy weaponry – a trio of GINN mobile suits, two carrying for missiles a piece and the third carrying a beam cannon, all in an attempt to destroy the _Archangel_, an Earth Alliance Forces warship on which my friends were forced to take shelter. In the battle so much damage had been done to the colony that the tether holding the spaceport harbor at one end to the asteroid at the other end had been broken. Because of that, the plates that made up the cylindrical wall of the colony had come apart, and the resulting decompression had pulled the plates into an expanding cloud of debris.

Ensign Badgiruel finally cut through my thought process by calling my name. _"Kira Yamato! If you can hear me, if you're okay, respond!"_

I found the communications controls and announced, "X105 Strike," my voice coming out a little rough, "Kira here."

With actual relief in her voice, the ensign asked, _"Are you alright?"_

She probably meant to ask my physical state and the condition of the mobile suit. After looking at the status board, I responded, "Yes!"

Her next question was, _"Do you know our position?"_

Checking the sensor board I found the _Archangel's_ Identify-Friend-from-Foe identifier was clearly labeled. "Yes."

_"Then return,"_ the officer ordered. When I didn't immediately respond, she asked, _"You can return, right?"_

Hadn't I already answered that question? "Yes," I told her, while my thoughts turned to my parents. Had they been able to make it to a shelter in time? But I couldn't worry about them now – I had to get back to the ship as the Strike Gundam's life-support systems wouldn't last forever.

I was about to kick in the thrusters when the mobile suit detected a distress signal nearby, "It's a Heliopolis lifeboat."

The boat began to emit random bursts from its maneuvering thrusters, banging into debris and getting turned around. Its internal guidance system should have directed it to a staging area outside the expected debris pattern, but some fault in the propulsion section was sending it completely the wrong way. And, if it continued banging into debris there was the chance that the interior could become depressurized, killing everyone who was sheltered within. Or worse, it could be days or weeks before search and rescue crews found the lifeboat, by which time the people within could have suffocated or frozen to death.

Flying up to it, I steadied the astray lifeboat, I called over the comm., "_Archangel_, there's a lifeboat on an erratic course: I am requesting permission to bring it in."

_"What did you say?"_ the ensign responded, _"Wait a minute! We are still engaged in combat operations."_

I argued, "The propulsion section is broken. It's drifting out of control. Are you telling me to throw this back out there again? People who have evacuated are on this ship."

Her answer was, _"Reinforcements will be here right away, but the _Archangel_ is fighting a battle! There's no way we can accept refugees at this time!"_

There was a pause, and then Ensign Badgiruel reluctantly authorized, _"X105 Strike, you are cleared to bring the lifeboat aboard. Be quick, though, there are still two ZAFT ships still out there."_

"Thank you, _Archangel_," I said with relief. "Returning now."

The _Archangel _opened its door for me, and I set the lifeboat down as gingerly as I could onto the hanger deck before moving the Strike over to a maintenance cradle. While I was powering down the mobile suit, atmosphere was pumped into the hanger so that maintainers could begin trying to open the damaged escape pod. People started climbing out, and were directed to a hallway access, being told to have their residency cards, or other identification ready.

One of the occupants had red hair, and was wearing a pink dress. Blinking a couple of times to make sure that I wasn't seeing things, I realized that it was Flay Allster!

From inside my jacket, Torii, the mechanical bird, flew out into the hanger with a triumphant, "Birdy!" This attracted Flay's attention as I lunged after my robotic pet to keep it from causing trouble in the hanger.

To my surprise, Flay recognized me; calling you, "It's you! You're Sai's friend!"

"F-Flay," I said, meaning to say more, but the girl lunged through zero gravity to hug me around the chest. "Is it really you, Flay Allster? So you were on this boat!"

She looked up at me with her beautiful blue-grey eyes and started jabbering in what I hoped was relief. "Hey, what happened to Heliopolis? What happened there? What went on?"

I was taken aback by the questions, and being partially responsible for the collapse of the resource satellite I didn't know how to respond.

No waiting for an answer, Flay went on, slightly hysterically, "I . . . I . . . I got separated . . . from Jessica and Misha in a store in Florence . . . and I ran to a shelter alone, and then . . .!"

She was worried for her friends – that was sweet, but I still didn't know what to say. Before I could find an answer, though, she went on, "This is a ZAFT ship, right? What's gonna happen to us? What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Th-This ship belongs to the Earth Forces," I explained.

"You're lying," she accused, turning to look at the Strike as proof, "There's a mobile suit on board."

Glad that I could reassure her of something, I told Flay, "No, that also belongs to the Earth Forces." She was so close that I could smell the lavender scent left behind by her shampoo as I started, "B-But, boy am I glad," before thinking better of what I'd been about to say. Instead I told her, "Sai and Miriallia are here, too. You'll be fine."

"Where are they?" Flay asked, looking around, perhaps for another lifeboat.

"I'll take you to them," I promised. "Let's just get you registered as a refugee. This way!"

I held her hand, kicking off a bulkhead and towing her behind me, marveling at the fact that I was actually speaking with and holding hands with Flay Allster! Since the crew recognized me I was able to move Flay to the front of the line, and once she was registered I led her over to a wall-mounted terminal. All the refugees were directed to gather in the mess hall, so I took Flay there – the door opening onto a crowd of glum faces, the people struggling to come to terms with their situation. Seeing them all so depressed made me feel bad for my part in the tragedy.

My friends, however, looked up, happy to see that I'd returned and surprised to see Flay by my side. That cheered me up, though only temporarily, as the girl I was escorting ran into Sai's arms, crying and blubbering all over again. We were all surprised at that, including Sai, who was grimacing slightly and the sudden display of affection.

It was easy to be jealous of the guy – the prettiest girl in school went and threw herself into his arms.

Once Flay had calmed down, reassured by Sai's confirmation that we were aboard an Earth Alliance warship, I explained that her lifeboat had been damaged and drifting out of control. We decided to head back to the alcove that we'd been originally assigned. It was likely the Miriallia and Flay would be assigned to a different alcove, as there were only four bunks, but it seemed the natural gathering place for the time being. In the hallway we could hear the last few refugees being registered while we all ruminated on what would happen next.

We were all likely thinking the same thing, but it was Kuzzey who spoke aloud, "I wonder where we're headed.

Sai responded, "They changed course once, didn't they? I wonder if ZAFT is still around.

"They're after this ship and that mobile suit, right?" Tolle reasoned. "Then maybe they're still after us."

Flay was surprised by this, asking, "Huh? Then what? Are you saying that we're less safe now than we boarded this ship? No way!"

I hadn't thought of it that way before, and felt ashamed at dragging her into this situation the same way I'd dragged my friends into the mess we found ourselves in.

She looked about ready to head back to the lifeboat, but Miriallia reasoned, "Would you rather have remained on that broken lifeboat?"

"W-Well, not exactly . . ." Flay demurred, taking hold of Sai's arm and leaning against him for comfort.

People were walking past our alcove to their own assignments – men and women, young and old, some single parents with their kids asking where mommy or daddy were. I'd dragged all of them into this mess, but what was I supposed to have done – left their lifeboat to drift erratically, colliding with debris until the damaged propulsion unit ran out of power and people within either suffocated or froze to death? No, I was sure that I had done the right thing, but it was still hard to watch as people suffered for my decision.

"I hope my parents are safe," Kuzzey sighed – the was the only one of us who was living with his parents.

Sai and Flay's parents lived in the Atlantic Federation, while Tolle's, Miriallia's, and my parents lived on the island-capital of the Orb Union. We had been living in the dorms while attending college on Heliopolis.

It was Sai who reassured everyone, saying, "Evacuation orders were issued to all districts . . . so I'm sure they're okay."

That was true – there had been plenty of time from the first attack to when I'd accidentally blown a hole in the side of the colony with the Agni beam cannon for people to reach the shelters. After that, the Earth Forces had rounded up a good number of the stranglers, mostly Morgenroete technicians but several civilians as well, and brought them aboard the _Archangel_. Odds were excellent that Mr. and Mrs. Buskirk had found their way to a shelter first thing after the alarm sounded.

Before I could give my reassurance, I heard my name being called.

"Kira Yamato," Lieutenant Mu La Flaga said as he came down the hall dressed in what I was beginning to recognize as the Earth Alliance Forces' officers uniform. White, with gray accents, the shoulders black; but unlike other officers, LT La Flaga wore his with the collar open and the sleeves rolled up to expose his forearms.

"Y-Yes?" I stammered, wondering what this could be about.

"Petty Officer Murdoch is furious," the lieutenant explained. "He doesn't have enough people, and told me to tell you that you're responsible for maintaining your own machine."

"My machine? What!" I demanded. "What do you mean, "my machine"?"

With a shrug the man pressed, "Let's just say that's what's been decided." He then confided, "The fact is, you're the only one capable of piloting that thing. It can't be helped."

"Sure, I rode the thing twice," I allowed, "but only because I had no choice! I'm not a soldier or anything!"

In school I'd learned about how in times of war some countries would initiate a draft to bolster their military reserves, but I was fairly sure that you couldn't draft someone who wasn't a member of your own country. Mu La Flaga and the other officers were members of the Atlantic Federation military, which was working with a group of Earth governments to form the Earth Alliance, but while the Orb Union was a nation on Earth they had declared neutrality in regards to the war between Earth and the PLANTs.

Shaking his head, the military officer reasoned, "So, what will you do when the fighting starts again? You'll refuse to pilot it, and we'll all die, right?"

He let that sink in before stressing, "Right now, you and I are the only ones who can protect this ship.

"But I . . ." I tried to argue, but couldn't come up with a reason before La Flaga interrupted me.

"You have the ability to make a difference, right?" he challenged. "Then put those abilities to use. We have little time, only a little time to think this over."

The lieutenant was walking away when Sai called out, "Excuse me! Where is this ship headed?"

"An Eurasian military fortress," Mu answered in a friendly way, turning back to address the others. "Well, we'll be lucky if they let us in without incident."

Confused and angry, I meant to call after the lieutenant that I wouldn't fight, but all I could manage to get out was, "I . . ."

My conviction was so weak that I was embarrassed, and unable to face my friends I stepped out of the alcove and ran down the hallway, not really sure of my destination. Tolle called out my name, but I just kept running, taking a lift out of the living-quarter's section of the ship. Without really meaning to, I found myself in the hanger, facing the Strike, which was being held securely in a maintenance cradle, gray and still, as if it were asleep.

A part of me couldn't help but wonder at the mobile suit's construction – the genius of the designers in combining advanced technologies. However, the original O.M.N.I. Enforcer Military Operating System that they had been using was only good for basic movement, and would never have served in combat. I could only suppose that a more advanced MOS would have been installed once the Strike and the other GAT-X series mobile suits were safely housed inside the _Archangel_, their systems calibrated to the unique neurology of their pilots. As it stood, with the changes that my friends and I had made to the operating system, I was the only one who could pilot the Strike, because recalibrating the system would take equipment that could only be found at Morgenroete, or another research and development facility.

Still, trying to guilt me into piloting the war machine was a low blow.

_"You have the ability to make a difference, right?"_ Lieutenant La Flaga had told me. _"Then put those abilities to use."_

"I may be able to operate the mobile suit," I told myself, "but that doesn't mean I can fight a battle!"

Especially not a battle where I might end up killing someone I knew. It had been easier to fight the GINNs, when I hadn't been able to associate the mobile suit with the face of the pilot, but the Aegis had been flown by Athrun Zala, a friend from before this whole stupid war started. The Lieutenant was right, though, I had the ability to make a difference; to protect my friends and all the other people that I'd dragged into a dangerous situation.

A voice over the PA announced, _"Enemy unit, silhouette detected. Level 1 battle stations! All military personnel get to your positions at once. Repeat: all military personnel get to your positions at once. Repeat: all military personnel get to your positions at once."_

_"Kira Yamato: contact the bridge,"_ the voice ordered, and I kicked off through the zero gravity in the hanger to reach a wall-mounted terminal.

"Kira Yamato to the bridge," I connected.

Lieutenant Murrue Ramius, the acting captain, responded, "We are about to enter combat operations: if you're willing to help us, met Lieutenant La Flaga in the pilot's ready room."

"Okay," I responded, turning off the comm and making my way to the halls. Still conflicted, I realized that I didn't know where the pilot's ready room was, and had to backtrack a little.

It was on my way back that I heard Tolle calling, "Kira!" and looked up to see him, Sai, Kuzzey, and Miriallia, heading my way, all dressed in the uniforms of Earth Alliance enlisted personnel. They must have been out of pants, because Miriallia was wearing a short yellow skirt under her dark-pink top. Unlike other enlisted personnel the guys were wearing dark-blue shoulder devices, while Miriallia was wearing light grey.

"Tolle," I wondered, "All of you."

"Hi, Kira," Toll responded, taking the lead for once.

"What's the deal with the outfits?"

Sai answered, "We've decided to help out with tasks aboard this ship. They're understaffed, right?"

"They require us to wear military uniforms if we're gonna be on the bridge," Kuzzey explained, rotating his shoulders as if he weren't comfortable with the way his jacket fit.

"ZAFT's military uniforms are cooler, aren't they?" Tolle wondered, holding out his arms. "With no rank insignia, these look kinda silly."

Petty Officer 2nd Class Chandra, an enlisted bridge officer who seemed to be riding herd on the group warned, "Don't be a wise guy."

Tolle continued, "We can't have just you fighting all the time."

His girlfriend supported him, adding, "Given the situation we're in, we'll help however we can."

Seeing my friends willing to help bear the burden of protecting the ship made me feel a lot better about my decision, but I didn't have time to tell them that as Mr. Chandra pushed the gathering ahead of him, saying, "Move on, youngsters!"

"Bye, Kira!" Tolle called over his shoulder.

"See you later," Miriallia called out as well.

Chandra stopped, addressing me, "Oh, and if you're taking off again, make sure you wear a pilot suit this time!"

"U-Um, Mr. Chandra," I said, reluctant, "Which way to the pilot's ready room?"

He laughed and pointed the way.

Finally finding the place, I searched the lockers until I found a pilot's suit my size. It was white and blue, with padding placed strategically over the body to minimize impact damage if I was bounced around the cockpit, and featuring an auxiliary air filtration system on the back that would connect to the Strike's primary system. The room wasn't large, and was dominated by four small couches, two on either side of an isle facing a briefing monitor, but it was plenty large enough for one person to change into a flight suit.

I'd just finished putting it on when the door to the ready room opened and Lieutenant La Flaga stepped in with his similar black and purple flight suit. "So, judging from that outfit I see that you've finally made a decision."

"You said so yourself, Lieutenant," I explained, "Right now, you and I are the only ones who can protect this ship. It's not that I wanna fight . . . but I do wanna protect this ship, because of the people on board."

"It's the same for all of us," Mu responded. "You won't find too many people who wish to fight for no reason at all. We fight because unless we fight, we cannot protect."

He let that sink in before announcing, "Okay, let me explain our plan to you."

I didn't have a head for military planning, and not enough experience with the military to judge if Mu's plan was genius or madness. He used the large monitor at the front of the room to go over the particulars, answering what few questions I could come up with. When he was sure that I understood the particulars of the mission we headed to the hanger where technicians were standing by next to our machines.

Lieutenant La Flaga's machine was the Moebius Zero, a mobile armor that was equipped with four out-rigger weapons pods that could be detached and controlled by a thin wire that connected it to the rocket-like fuselage. From what I understood, it took someone with high spatial awareness to manage the weapons pods during a battle, proving that the lieutenant was more than just a pretty-boy.

"In any case, think only about protecting this ship and yourself," the lieutenant advised as we reached the Zero.

"Y-Yes," I stammered. "Be careful, Lieutenant." As I kicked off through zero-g, however, I couldn't help but think, _"Athrun, will you come back as well to sink this ship?"_

My old friend was now a highly trained military officer, experienced in mobile suit combat, and probably on a mission to destroy the _Archangel_ and either capture or destroy the Strike. Behind me the lieutenant's mobile armor was maneuvered into the catapult, and after receiving clearance from the Combat Information Controller, the CIC, on the bridge he was propelled out of the ship but did not immediately accelerate, the way I would do when it was my turn to launch.

"Strike, proceed to takeoff position," the Hanger Control person called over the comm. The maintenance cradle was moved to the linear catapult and dropped into the chalks that would propel it and me out the launch tube. "Catapult connection: system, all green!"

I thought back to the plan, _"The lieutenant will secretly move ahead and hit the enemy in front of us. In the meantime, I will protect the ship from the enemy to the rear."_ However, I couldn't help but wonder, _"Is this gonna work?"_

_"Kira,"_ a familiar voice called over the comm.

"Miriallia?" I asked, surprised, looking up at one of my auxiliary monitors to see my friend sitting at one of the bridge positions, Ensign Natarle Badgiruel in the background.

_"From now on, I will act as the combat controller,"_ she announced, _"for the mobile suit and mobile armor. I'm counting on you!"_

She said the last in such a carefree tone that I had to smile. I heard Tolle in the background add, _"We're all counting on you,"_ before Ensign Badgiruel announced, _"Mount the Aile Striker. The enemy will be here as soon as the _Archangel_ fires its engines! Be ready!"_

"Right," I responded as I familiarized myself with the weapons included in the Striker Pack. Unlike the previous equipment modules, the Aile Striker did not have any funny names besides the standard Igelstellung 75mm CIWS for intercepting missiles and rockets and the Armor Schneider combat knives. Equipped to the Strike's back was a set of large thrusters, topped by a pair of beam sabers that stuck out over the shoulders of the mobile suit. I was also given a 57mm high-energy beam rifle and a shield that was specially designed to deflect beam-weapons, since the Phase-Shift armor was weak against that type of weaponry.

I heard the ensign give me the order to launch, and Miriallia repeated, _"Kira!"_ to make sure that I heard.

"Roger," I responded, my resolve being tested as I hesitated on the controls.

I remembered Mu's words to me earlier: _"Right now, you and I are the only ones who can protect this ship."_ He wasn't entirely right, as I remembered Tolle and Miriallia telling me: _"We can't have just you fighting all the time," "Given the situation we're in, we'll help."_

My friends were not going to give out without a fight, and neither could I. Spotting the trio of 'Clear' announcements next to the catapult I announced to launch control, "Kira Yamato! Gundam, taking off!"

The chalks moved me forward into range of the electromagnetic mass accelerators that doubled, if not tripled my speed, pushing me into my seat. I barely felt the umbilical that connected the mobile suit to the ship's power coming free as I fought acceleration to reach for the PS armor power button, but I hesitated as I realized that Phase-Shift would draw power from both the Strike and Aile Striker batteries, limiting the amount of time that I could operate separated from ship's power.

Withdrawing my hand I scanned the tactical board for inbound mobile suits.

End Episode Four

NOTE: I do not own rights to Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, nor do I intend to make a profit from this fan fiction. Right now I am playing with plugging the many plot holes present in the original anime from Sunrise Entertainment using my 'Genie's Trap' story universe, which I am still experimenting with. If everything works out well I'll remove the Genie's Trap references when I go back and edit this. Please leave me comments if you like what I'm doing or have recommendations/complaints.


	5. Phase Shift Down

Genie's Trap: A Mobile Suit Gundam Fan Fiction

Episode Five: Phase Shift Down

Date: January 26th, C.E. 71

Twenty-one years ago a genetic subset of humanity, called Coordinators, formed the Zodiac Alliance with the intent of conducting peaceful demonstrations to protest the random acts of terrorism being committed against them by 'Naturals' – the dominant subset. Forced underground, the group eventually reorganized into the Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty, ZAFT, with the intent of taking control of the space colonies known as PLANTs. To achieve their goals, many Coordinators donated funds which were used to purchase the PLANTs owned by the Orb Union and other friendly nations. Using ownership to join the Supreme Council the leaders of ZAFT, Patrick Zala and Siegal Clyne, were able to open the doors for the purchase of the other PLANT-type colonies and achieved the seemingly impossible: a bloodless coup.

Disenfranchised Coordinators were encouraged to immigrate to the colonies, displacing the Natural population, who suddenly found themselves being treated as second-class citizens by the general population.

A rift began forming between the Coordinator ruled PLANTs and the predominantly Natural populations of Earth, which came to a head in February of last year, when the United Nations leaders were all wiped out in what has come to be known as the Tragedy of Copernicus. PLANT representative Siegel Clyne survived the attack by happenstance when his shuttle was delayed, but the Atlantic Federation declared him a suspect and proposed the Alaska Declaration, which many other Earth nations signed, forming the Earth Alliance, with the goal of returning the PLANTs to their original national ownership. To that end, the Alliance declared war on the Coordinator-controlled colonies.

February 14th, Valentine's Day, a battle was waged between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT, which had been converted into the national defense agency after the annexation of the colonies. This battle was to become known as the Bloody Valentine when a nuclear missile struck the agricultural colony of Junius Seven, killing hundreds of thousands of people. So began the Bloody Valentine War . . .

_"Right now, you and I are the only ones who can protect this ship,"_ Lieutenant Mu La Flaga had told me just a few minutes ago. I didn't totally believe him, but I took his words to heart anyway – I would do everything I could to protect the _Archangel_ and the people onboard.

"Kira Yamato," I announced to the catapult controller, "Gundam, taking off!"

The chalks that the 17 meter tall mobile suit was set in raced forward, but the machine really started to pick up speed as the electromagnetic mass drivers took effect, launching me out of the warship at combat speed into open space. Using the large thrusters included in the Aile Striker Pack, I maneuvered towards where we expected the first attack to come from. I refrained from activating the Phase Shift armor, which drained power from the Gundam's batteries, until I spotted the enemy.

"One unit," I sighed, relieved that the odds were even, but still worried.

_"In any case, think only about protecting this ship and yourself,"_ Lieutenant La Flaga had told me.

"That's easier said than done," I muttered to myself as I changed course to intercept.

My targeting sensors tracked the incoming mobile suit, recognizing the designator and displaying a zoomed in image with the identification: GAT-X303 AEGIS. "That mobile suit," I wondered. "Athran?"

I could still remember the boy I'd met on the lunar city of Copernicus, with his reassurances that there would be no war between Earth and the PLANTs. Not only was there a war, but Athrun Zala had become a soldier for ZAFT, the military service of those colonies that were operated by and for those with genetic modifications, like him and me. He activated a beam saber emitter in the forearm armor of his stolen mobile suit, and I drew one of the beam sabers from over my shoulder, unsure if I would be able to use it on my old friend.

Rather than attack, the Aegis flew past me, and we turned to face each other, my radio crackling to life to emit Athrun's voice shouting my name, "Kira!"

"Athrun?" I responded, wondering how he had cut through the Alliance communications encryption. Then I realized that since his mobile suit had been stolen from the Earth Alliance, it would have had the same encryption algorithms.

"Stop it!" he admonished, "Put your sword away, Kira!"

He went on to say, "We're not enemies! Am I right?"

To be honest, I didn't want to be enemies with anyone.

"Why must we fight each other?" he reasoned.

"Athrun," I said aloud, trying to put my thoughts together.

"Why must you, a Coordinator like us, fight against us?" Athrun asked.

That was rather racist of him, I thought; and then I realized that the ship was under attack by other mobile suits. I tried to explain while maneuvering to help the warship, "The _Archangel's_ . . .," only to be interrupted as Athrun positioned himself in front of me again.

"Stop it, Kira!" my old friend admonished me.

"Athrun!" I called out again, but again he spoke before I could get a word in edgewise.

"What are you doing with the Earth Forces? Why are you siding with the Naturals?"

When had genetic status become so important to him, I wondered?

"I'm not a member of the Earth Forces!" I finally managed to explain. "There are people I know on that ship! My friends, and other refugees of Heliopolis are on it!" Then I turned the argument around, "So why are you with ZAFT? Why are you taking part in the war? You used to say that you hated wars! So why did you assault Heliopolis?"

Athrun sounded like he was repeating something he'd heard but didn't agree with as he said, "Because the Naturals, who fail to understand the situation . . . went and made these things!"

So, maybe he wasn't naturally a racist, but he must have been drinking from the Kool-Aid someone was giving him. "But Heliopolis is neutral," I pointed out. "So am I! And yet . . .!"

I was interrupted this time by an alert signal – someone was targeting me, and I only had a fraction of a second to fire the thrusters to evade the beam energy that would have torn through my mobile suit's armor. "The X102 Duel," I noted, glancing at the sensor board, "They got it working, too?"

Possessing an anti-beam coating, I managed to use the shield to deflect the Duel's beam rifle shots, a trick I had picked up in an earlier battle with a GINN, using the much smaller shield of the Sword Striker pack. The pilot of the second stolen mobile suit was more aggressive, his machine more nimble, forcing me to evade as well as deflect. In the background, the radio crackled with distortion, picking up encrypted messages between the Aegis and Duel.

I evaded the shots, but as I was learning my opponent's attack pattern he was learning my evasion pattern. He was going to kill me if this kept up – I had to fight back!

Turning the mobile suit, I activated the targeting system like I had with the Launch Striker's Agni and took aim, surprising my opponent at first and forcing him to use his shield as well. Duel was a high-agility type of mobile suit, like the Strike with the Sword Striker Pack, making it difficult to hit at the best of times. Add in the difference in experience levels as I aimed and fired, repeatedly missing my target as he stowed his beam rifle and drew a beam saber from over one shoulder.

I blocked with the shield, fired twice, missing, and evaded the next slash, firing the beam rifle behind me to disrupt the Duel's attack rhythm. That didn't work, forcing me to continue to evade my aggressive attacker. Desperately, I worked my way back towards the _Archangel_, hoping for support from the warship, aware that I had already gone through the primary battery and was quickly depleting the auxiliary battery as well. Unfortunately, that brought me to the attention of the GAT-X103 Buster and the –X207 Blitz, which had been attacking the warship without much success.

The Buster was an artillery-type, like the Strike when equipped with the Launcher Striker Pack, while the Blitz was unlike anything I was familiar with. I was quickly surrounded by the experienced ZAFT pilots, and was forced to use even more energy in the thrusters as I shot back in order to disrupt and discourage coordinated attacks. Alarms sounded, an alert message warning me to get out of the _Archangel's_ line of fire. From the way the other mobile suits also pulled back, I assumed that they'd also gotten the message.

A pair weapons emplacements below the warship's launch tubes lowered into position, revealing two positron cannons that emitted twin streams of destructive energy, presumably targeting the ZAFT warship that had slipped out ahead to cut us off from reaching the Eurasian military base that was our destination. The distances were such that I couldn't see if they hit or not, but a trio of fireworks, Purple, green and white-blue, were the signal for me to head back to the ship.

The Duel wouldn't allow me to withdraw, though, getting between me and the _Archangel_ and forcing me to waste more energy in an exchange of beam rifle shots. The Buster joined him, forcing me to perform spins, pirouettes, flips, and a number of other maneuvers that were making me lose track of where the ships was in relation to the melee. I cursed, muttering, "It's no good!" as I did a cartwheel away from the _Archangel_ in order to evade my attackers.

While the Buster drew my attention, the Duel came in for an all-out attack run, beam saber in hand, and imposing the shield between me and the Buster I took aim with the beam rifle. My shot went wide, but it did force the Duel to break off the attack. Just then though, my console beeped, and I looked down to realize that I had reached the operational limit of the battery – I would have to stop using the beam rifle or the PS armor would power down.

My only hope was to divert the last of my energy into an all-out sprint for the ship, and hope that I could get inside their defensive umbrella before the others caught up. The Aile Striker was a high-mobility-type, capable of astonishing speed, but the Aegis was also designed for high-mobility. As I turned to flee I was side-swiped by the red-armored Aegis, which had transformed into a mobile armor with four articulated limbs that pinned me in place.

The console chimed again as the auxiliary battery gave out, and the Phase Shift armor shut down. My radio went crazy as all four of the stolen mobile suits started transmitting across encrypted ZAFT frequencies, but through the distortions I could hear Miriallia calling from the _Archangel's_ Combat-Information-Control post, _"Kira! Please respond!"_

Over the open channel I demanded, "Athrun! What's the big idea?"

_"I'm taking you to the _Gamow_,"_ he explained, and I interpreted that to mean he was taking me to one of their ships.

"Get serious," I argued, "I'm not going to any ZAFT ship!"

"You're a Coordinator! You're one of us!" my old friend spouted racist Kool-Aid.

I had already explained that my friends were on board the _Archangel_, but Athrun seemed to believe that as soon as I was among 'our kind' I would change who I was. "No!" I told him, "I won't join ZAFT!"

"Cut it out, Kira!" he shouted, before saying in a more reasonable tone, "Just let me take you. Otherwise, I'll have to shoot you!"

My intent was to reason with him further, but I only managed to get out his name before what Athrun had said managed to sink in. He went on, "I already lost my mom in the Bloody Valentine. So I . . .!"

He was interrupted by something, and the Aegis started evasive maneuvers, and a moment later the transformable mobile armor was shaken by a direct hit.

A voice cut through the encryption static, shouting, "Kid!"

"Lieutenant La Flaga," I recognized.

Deploying the combat knives I jammed them into two of the X303's limb joints, forcing Athrun to let go of me and switch to mobile suit mode and limiting his maneuverability greatly. My old friend fell back as the lieutenant ordered, "Get away from there! The _Archangel's_ sending out the launcher!"

That was insane, but as I was in the middle of battle with my former best friend and his blood-thirsty new associates, insanity was probably a good thing. Demonstrating his years of combat experience and heightened spatial awareness, the lieutenant deployed and recalled the four weapons pods that were equipped to his custom mobile armor, keeping the four stolen mobile suits busy.

"We've still got the big ship behind us," Mu reminded me. "Hurry and make changes to prepare for it!"

The plan had been for me to land and switch equipment, but I supposed that we were just going to have to wing this. I watched in the cameras as the Zero engaged the Aegis, which had tried to make a run at me despite its damage, but I remembered my friends aboard the _Archangel_ who were doing their best to protect the ship, too. Resolved, I told him, "I understand!"

"Kira!" Athrun shouted behind me as I accelerated away, diverting all the power I could to the thruster.

An alert message game up – the Duel and Buster were in pursuit, but were forced to scatter when we entered the _Archangel's_ weapons range.

_"Kira,"_ Miriallia's voice cut through the static now that I was out of the melee, _"I'm transmitting the course that the Launcher Striker will be sent out on. You'll need to catch the shoulder weapon pod before slowing down to let the beam cannon catch up."_

"Okay, I'm almost there," I told her.

Seemingly ignorant of his own mortality, the pilot of the Duel pushed his machine ahead, narrowly dodging the warship's defensive fire to get to me. He seemed blind to the fact that the _Archangel_ had its launch tube open, a vulnerable position that he could have exploited if he weren't so focused on me. Meanwhile, the AQM/E-X03 Launcher Striker equipment, according to my sensor board, was propelled out of the launch tube via the mass driver.

"It's here," I encouraged myself while ejecting the thrusters to free up the attachment points for the new equipment. Bringing myself into position I rapidly gained on the shoulder combo weapons pod as an alert warning started flashing on the sensor board. "The Duel," I exclaimed, "It's locked on to me?"

This was going to be close, I stressed as the weapons pod connected to the right shoulder. I slowed down slightly, allowing the Agni beam cannon to catch up and snap into place on the back as the Duel fired a rocket that was underslung on its rifle. My hand was hovering over the Phase Shift control as the Launcher's battery registered, and I slapped the button a second before the Strike was struck in the back by the explosive round.

For a moment I thought I was dead, but when the moment passed I turned around and used the explosion as cover to fire the Agni where I thought the Duel might be. The move was a partial success – the other mobile suit had drifted slightly to the left, so all I managed was to hit the right arm. The arm vaporized under the torrent of energy, taking the beam rifle along with it. Afraid of running out of power again, I fired the 120mm Vulcans and the 350mm launchers, as I was joined by Lieutenant La Flaga in his Mobius Zero. Together we took up defensive positions as the ZAFT soldiers in their stolen mobile suits retreated to the waiting warship that was following in the _Archangel's_ wake.

Miriallia's voice cheered, _"All enemies have cleared the combat area. You are free to return, Kira."_

"R-Right," I responded, finding that I was shivering as I maneuvered the Strike towards the launch tube. Somehow, I managed to hold it together long enough for the Launcher Striker to be removed and to position the Gundam in a maintenance cradle. Then everything that had happened came crashing back down on me.

Athrun Zala, who I still considered a friend deep down, had told me that he would have to kill me. I had been fighting for my life against four highly trained ZAFT soldiers, and barely escaped. Then there was the fact that I had actually been aiming to kill when I fired the Agni at the Duel. Even though I tried to hold them back, tears started streaming down my cheeks as I remembered that I was already a killer – that I had killed the pilot of that GINN on Heliopolis; I had killed, and barely thought anything of it.

What did that say about me?

Was I a horrible person? A murderer?

The cockpit hatch opened, and Lieutenant La Flaga demanded, "Hey, what are you doing in there? Come out!" He called my name, but I couldn't look up as I struggled to come to an understanding of myself. I couldn't even look at the man, ashamed as I was.

In a kind voice, the lieutenant assured me, "It's over. Come on, now!" He pried my fingers from the controls, encouraging me with, "Hurry up and get outta there! Neither of us got killed, and the ship's okay! You did a great job."

'A great job', I wondered, looking at my hands and remembering that I had killed a man, and that I'd almost done it again without thinking. What kind of person was I?

He helped me out of the cockpit and then led the way to the pilot's ready room. Mu even brought me a change of clothes, though I didn't know if I cared for the Earth Alliance junior enlisted uniform with the dark-blue shoulder. He did leave me alone to change, but I found him hanging around outside the briefing room when I was done.

"I forgot to tell you earlier," he commented, throwing and arm around my shouler.

"Yes?" I prompted.

The lieutenant's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper as he ordered, "Put a lock on the Strike's activation program. Make sure that no one can move it but you!"

"Huh?" was my response, wondering what this was about.

"Come on," he called, heading towards the hanger, "I'll help you."

Imbedding passwords was fairly simple – I just duplicated the biometric scan into additional steps. Essentially, the Strike would verify my presence before startup, at various times during startup, and then verify that I was alone once the cockpit hatch was closed.

"Good job, kid," the lieutenant enthused. "Now, head to the mess hall to get something to eat."

That sounded like a good idea, because I was pretty hungry. I still had a lot of thinking to do, but trying to think on an empty stomach was an exercise in futility, especially for someone only 15 years old.

End Episode Five

NOTE: I do not own Gundam SEED, nor do I intend to make money off of this fan fiction – it is purely for entertainment. That being said, what I'm trying to do is plug some of the plot holes present in the original material. I might miss some, though, so please leave comments telling me your thoughts, impressions, and especially any mistakes that you caught. Thank you!


	6. The Vanishing Gundam

Genie's Trap: A Mobile Suit Gundam Fan Fiction

Episode Six: The Vanishing Gundam

Date: January 26th, C.E. 71

Hungry, I stepped into the mess hall to find that it was packed with refugees who had been watching the battle on the wall-mounted monitors. Flay Allster was in the group, her red hair slightly frizzy and her pink dress a little wrinkled, sitting next to Sai Argyle. I was again hit with a bout of jealousy seeing them together; Flay with her mysterious blue-grey eyes, looking vulnerable and clinging to Sai like he were her anchor in a storm.

"What is this?" she wondered, watching the screen. "What's going on, Sai?"

I moved over so that I could see the monitor too, but what I saw confused me as well. Various external cameras were showing scenes of men in combat pressure suits, carrying assault rifles, boarding the ship through various ports. At first I thought it might be some movie that had been put on to entertain the refugees, but then I recognized the _Archangel's_ bridge and various angles of the ship.

The door to the mess hall opened, and five men stepped inside wearing the same pressure suits and carrying rifles, the leader ordering, "Okay! Freeze!" When some of the refugees started to rise from the tables he added, " Don't move!"

We were all forced to take a seat, and were soon joined by the maintainers from the hanger and crew from the bridge, including Miriallia, Tolle, and Kuzzey.

"What is with you guys?" Chief Murdock demanded, but he was given no answer, just a jab in the ribs with a gun barrel to get him moving. He complained, "You've got to be kidding me," but he did join us in the mess.

The bridge crew were of a like mind, the helmsman muttering, "Damn," as he followed the Chief.

All the monitors were turned off, leaving us with no information except for the silent soldiers who were standing watch. Some of the refugees began to complain, "What? What's happening?" "Aren't we going to be let off here?" "Why is there no explaination?"

Sai asked one of the crewmen, "Eurasia is supposed to be an ally, right? Don't they get along with the Atlantic Federation?"

"That's not the problem," the crewman, Tonomura, replied.

Crewman Pal explained, "The problem is that we have no identification code."

"Is that much of a problem?" Tolle wondered.

"Apparently," Chandra answered.

To Petty Officer Neumann, Chief Murdock confessed, "Although I believe the real problem lies elsewhere."

Neumann confessed, "You're right," and went on to explain, "When the Atlantic Federation first proposed going to war after the Tragedy of Copernicus, the Eurasian Federation accused the AF of conspiring to steal their military secrets. A clause had to be written into the Alaska Declaration that allowed the separate nations to maintain 'strategic national identities', or rather, military technologies would not be shared among the nations. Here we are, though; a warship with new technologies and a mobile suit developed by the AF in secret from the rest of the Earth Alliance. Both Captain Ramius and Lieutenant La Flaga expressed doubts about coming to Artemis, worried that something like this might happen."

"What?" Sai asked. "Why would we come here if they knew the Eurasians were going to do something like this?"

Neumann sighed, explaining, "Because Ensign Badgiruel was right – we need supplies and orders if we're going to survive this."

The kitchen staff started serving meals, and we all joined the cue for a tray of mostly identifiable foodstuffs. "Is this situation going to continue for long?" Chandra wondered as he returned with his tray.

"Beats me!" Tonomura answered as Chandra sat down next to him, "We won't know a thing until the captain returns!"

"We can't exactly cause a scene with our allies, either," Pal cautioned the group.

"There seems to be a lot going on, even within the Earth Forces," Chandra reasoned.

I picked at my food, not really listening to the conversation as I ran the previous 10 hours through my head. From when I recognized Athrun on the factory floor of Morgenroete to the previous battle where he had threatened that if I didn't join ZAFT he would kill me. He had changed so much from the boy I'd met in Copernicus City, but I could barely recognize myself after just 10 hours. What I really needed was a good night's sleep and a hot shower, but I wasn't likely to get either any time soon.

Only halfway through my meal a pair of men still wearing their officer caps came into the mess hall. Their uniforms were white and black, with black shoulders. I still hadn't memorized the rank designations, but I figured the man on the left with the black collar, one thick gold line on each side of the divide, outranked everyone that I had seen so far. He had a square face and narrow eyes, and looked at both people and objects with the same smug expression.

"Who are the pilot and mechanic of the mobile suit on board this ship?" the man demanded.

"The pilot and the mechanic," the second man ordered. This one had the normal red collar with two thinner gold lines. "They're among you people, right?"

I made to stand up, but Chief Murdock put his hands on my shoulders and kept me from rising.

Petty Officer Neumann stepped forward, the highest ranking enlisted person onboard, demanding, "Why are you asking us?"

The second man grabbed Neumann by the front of his uniform, and in a threatening tone said, "What?"

Going on, the PO reasoned, "Is it because the captain and our officers didn't tell you? Or because you couldn't ask them?"

I remembered Lieutenant La Flaga meeting me outside the ready room, telling me, _"Put a lock on the Strike's activation program. Make sure no one can move it but you!"_

So, the reason these two were demanding to know where the 'pilot and mechanic' were, was because they wanted to move the Strike off of the _Archangel_, or at least access the information contained within the mobile suit's computers.

"I see," the person in command said, placing a placating hand on his subordinate's arm to prompt the junior officer to release Neumann. "That's right. Among the Atlantic Federation . . . you people are elite personnel selected for a top-secret military project."

Both officers had said the words 'you people' with a slight distain in their voices, as if they believed that the people of the Atlantic Federation were somehow beneath them.

Fixing his collar, Neumann asked, "What are you planning to do to the Strike?"

With a fake smile and faux sincerity, the Eurasian officer assured us, "We won't do anything. It's just that we're fortunate enough to be granted the . . . opportunity to observe it before the official announcement, is all. Who's the pilot?"

Chief Murdock lied, "It's Lieutenant La Flaga. If you have any questions about it, please ask the lieutenant."

"We monitored the battle fought earlier," the senior officer countered. "Even I know that he's the only person capable of handling the Zero and its gun barrels."

There was actual respect in his voice at that declaration – well, it was good to know that the commander respected someone. But, then he eyed Miriallia, and smile that made my skin crawl catching the edges of the man's lips. He stepped forward and grabbed the girl by the arm, dragging my friend to her feet.

Standing up, Tolle called out Miriallia's name but had the sense not to strike at the military officer. Again, I tried to stand only to have Murdock push me back into my seat. Miriallia tried to break free of the man's grip, but the officer was too strong, squeezing her arm tighter until she was grimacing in pain.

"It's unlikely that a woman would pilot that thing," the officer reasoned, "But when you consider that even the captain of this ship is a woman . . ."

He twisted her arm, and I managed to get to my feet without Murdock stopping me. "That's unfair!" I shouted across the room

"Kid!" the chief warned, trying to push me back down.

Shrugging out of his grip, I announced, "I'm the pilot of the mobile suit."

The officer pushed Miriallia towards his subordinate and stalked towards me, laughing, "Hey, kid, I appreciate your wanting to protect the girl, but piloting a mobile suit isn't something a young guy like you can handle, now, is it?" Cocking his fist back to punch me, he roared, "Get serious!"

So, I got serious – as his arm snapped forward I grabbed his wrist with one hand and his elbow with the other, twisting and using leverage to throw the Eurasian officer to the floor. He hit the ground hand and had the wind knocked out of him by surprise. Standing over the man, I replied, "I've done nothing to deserve being hit by you!"

"Commander," the subordinate called out as he and two Eurasian soldiers pushed people aside to confront me.

"What's wrong with you people?" I wanted to know as I turned to face the trio.

"Kira, stop it!" the chief warned, restraining me. "Don't fight back!"

"Bastard," the subordinate accused, reaching out to grab my jacket and punch me.

Sai stepped up, trying to restrain the officer, admonishing, "Stop it!"

He took the blow instead, which staggered him into Flay. "Sai!" she screamed, catching her boyfriend. "Would you stop it?" she called out, "What Kira is saying is true! He's the pilot!"

"Flay," Tolle warned.

Sniffing derisively, the officer that had ahold of me countered, "Would you people cut it out?"

"I'm not lying," she reasoned, "Because that boy's a Coordinator."

There were shocked looks, not just among the Eurasian personnel as some of the _Archangel's_ crew looked shocked as well. The senior officer got to his feet musing, "A Coordinator? Well, isn't that interesting."

The two guards that had followed the subordinate officer forward raised their weapons, and I was put into an arm-hold by the subordinate before being marched out of the mess hall. We took a lift down to the hanger, the soldiers on their guards in case I tried anything. In the hanger, the Strike was still restrained inside the maintenance cradle, gray and motionless – it looked like a sleeping giant, restrained.

"So, you want me to release the lock on the OS, right?" I asked.

Nearby two technicians stage-whispered, "What? Are you sure?" "That child?"

"For starters," the 'commander' intoned, sounding like he was thinking devious thoughts, "But you're capable of doing many other things, right?"

"What do you mean?"

He mused, "For example, you could analyze the structure of this mobile suit and build another . . . or make a weapon that's effective against it."

What could he possibly be thinking, I wondered. It was like the man was imagining a time when the war with the PLANTs would be over and they would need weapons capable of matching or defeating the Atlantic Federation's mobile suits. "I'm nothing but a civilian student," I pointed out, "I'm not a soldier, nor a military contractor. There's no reason why I should have to do any of that."

The commander reasoned, "But you're a traitor to the Coordinators."

"A traitor?" I repeated, wondering if this guy was drinking the same Kool-Aid as Athrun or just following the recipe. According to my residency documents I was a citizen of the Orb Union, which was neutral in the war between the Earth Alliance and the PLANTs. The only reason I was fighting to defend an Atlantic Federation ship was because my friends were refuges onboard said ship.

Musing, mostly to himself, but perhaps believing it would unnerve me, he went on, "I have no idea why, but regardless . . . you did betray your own people, didn't you? In which case . . .."

"You're wrong," I cut him off.

But, the military commander went on, explaining, "As a Coordinator taking sides with the Earth Forces, you're very valuable." He reassured me, "There's nothing to worry about. You'll be treated well. Even in Eurasia."

I got it – he was trying to convince me to switch sides, to support the Eurasian faction of the Earth Alliance because he supposed that I was a ZAFT officer who had defected to the Atlantic Federation and taught them everything they knew about mobile suit design. Or, at least something along those lines. Between him and Ensign Badgiruel, my opinion of military officers was really being shaken.

"Look," I told the man, buying for time, mostly, "I'll unlock the Gundam and give you the OS." The original OS, I reasoned, the one that would be useful in construction but not combat.

"I knew you would see reason," the officer leered.

The pair of technicians and one of the soldiers accompanied me up to the cockpit, which I opened via a hidden keypad on the side. Once inside I went through the steps of activating the OS, letting it scan my biometrics multiple times and letting the Eurasian personnel believe that the delay were normal, and the multiple checks were a standard safety feature. I finally brought up the O.M.N.I. Enforcer screen when a series of tremors were translated through the docking moors from the asteroid fortress of Artemis itself.

I could just hear the commander demanding, "Control room! What were those tremors?"

The response was too weak to hear, but the commander replied, "But those were explosions!"

"An attack?" I wondered.

"Open the umbrella, Rize! What are you doing?" the officer ordered, and a moment later he demanded "What? They got through the umbrella? That's impossible!"

"Commander," the soldier guarding me shouted, looking to his commanding officer for orders.

Stowing the keyboard I kicked the distracted soldier out of the cockpit and triggered the cockpit hatch to close, causing the two technicians to leap out of the way. That triggered the final biometric check, which verified that I was the only one onboard. Unfortunately, there was no one there to release the maintenance cradle restraints, so I was forced to break out of them as I proceeded from the central hanger to the launch tube.

"Bastard!" the commander shouted.

Over the external speakers I reasoned, "We're under attack, right? There isn't time for this!"

The officer cursed again and ran off towards a waiting transport.

In the launch tube the Strike was equipped with the AQM/E-X02 Sword Striker equipment. The Panzer Eisen rocket anchor fitting over the left forearm, while the Midas Messer beam boomerang connected to the right shoulder. On the back the additional battery pack/sheath for the Schwert Gewehr anti-ship sword was connected and the Strike was ready to launch. However, no one was operating the launch controls – I was lucky that I'd been able to get a Striker pack at all. This forced me to make my way from the launch tube to the hanger and use the lower hatch to exit the _Archangel_.

Rising up between the _Archangel_ and a Eurasian Federation warship, I scanned the cavernous harbor of Artemis fortress, spotting the GAT-X207 Blitz wreaking havoc on the harbor. I launched myself towards it, and spotting me, the Blitz' pilot launched his version of the rocket anchor, which trailed a cable to both control and recall the weapon. Launching my own in return, the two anchors clashed and were deflected.

I cursed, "He's come all the way in here!"

What kind of equipment did the Blitz have that it could sneak into a previously impregnable fortress like Artemis? I really needed to read up on the other GAT-X series mobile suits – maybe there was an equipment kit like the Blitz for the Strike, the way the Launcher Striker mimicked the capabilities of the Buster, and the Aile Striker mimicked the Aegis. Or, maybe the Sword Striker was the closest equivalent – at the moment I knew only a little more about the Strike than I did any of the others.

I unslung the Schwert Gewehr and closed the distance, trying to use the massive weapon to slash through the Blitz. Below us, the _Archangel_ broke free of its moorings and began to maneuver around the other warships in the harbor. That was good – I just had to keep the Blitz occupied until the ship could maneuver around towards the exit. Dodging its rocket anchor, I threw the thrusters forward and slashed, forcing my opponent to retreat.

Facing another Coordinator in battle, I was reminded of the Artemis commander saying, _"But you're a traitor to the Coordinators. As a coordinator taking sides with the Earth Forces, you're very valuable."_

I cursed, and shouted at no one in particular, "Just leave us alone!" Focusing my anger, I rushed forward, dodging around a trio of rockets that the Blitz launched from its right shield, slashing one of them as I moved in close.

_"Kira!"_ Miriallia called over the radio. _"Kira, come back! _Archangel's_ taking off!"_

Reversing thrust, I kept the Blitz in sight until I was sure it wouldn't pursue right away, and then I turned and threw the Strike into the highest speed the Sword Striker pack would allow. Behind me, an explosion separated me from the other mobile suit, which had tried to follow me at the last minute. Below, the _Archangel_ was moving steadily towards the harbor mouth, and I landed on top of the hanger, awaiting instructions as we escaped the exploding military fortress.

Once clear I was directed into the hanger, into another maintenance cradle that had probably been intended for one of the other GAT-X mobile suits. We were back in zero gravity, so I opened the hatch and climbed out, angling for the door out of the hanger before I kicked off. I saw Lieutenant La Flaga and Chief Murdock, but I was so mentally and physically drained that I pretty much ignored them in my mindless quest for a bed.

Reaching the enlisted quarters that had been assigned to me and the others, I dropped onto one of the bunks and rolled onto my side. Torii, my mechanical bird, landed on my shoulder and whispered, "Birdy," in my ear. Hearing that reminded me of home, and brought a tear to my eye. Not really knowing what I was going to say, I started with, "I'm . . ." but wasn't able to finish the sentence before sleep took me.

It had been nearly 24 hours since I had woken up on Heliopolis, just another college coed taking classes and working on projects. Nearly 15 hours since the ZAFT attack on Heliopolis, and 11 hours since we arrived at Artemis. In that time I had flow four separate combat engagements, killing one person, tweaked the Strike's OS three times, oversaw repairs to its armor and frame, and contributed to the destruction of both the colony of Heliopolis and the Eurasian Federation fortress of Artemis.

It had been a very long day.

End Episode Six

NOTE: Okay, so there are a few changes to this episode. I never understood the accusations of 'betraying the Coordinators' affecting Kira so badly. If he were a citizen of the PLANTs, sure, that would make sense, but he's a citizen of the Orb Union. He wasn't being accused of betraying Orb, and I'd already established that he thought Athrun was talking like a racist. Hence, the Kool-Aid references. Looking at the timeline it made more sense for Kira to be tired more than anything else as I liken piloting a mobile suit to driving in a demolition derby.


	7. The Scar in Space

Genie's Trap: A Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Fan Fiction

Episode Seven: The Scar of Space

Date: January 28th, C.E. 71

"This is the captain," the voice of Murrue Ramius called from all the internal speakers of the _Archangel_, "We have successfully evaded the _Laurasia_-class frigate that has been following us."

A cheer went up, causing me to miss what the captain said next, but Chief Murdock called out, "You heard her; let's make sure everything is put away and get some sleep."

It had been a day since the destruction of the Eurasian Federation fortress, Artemis, during which time we had slowly put more distance between ourselves and the ZAFT warship that had been trying to track us. There had been a tense moment when two additional ZAFT ships had seemed to be part of the detection net, but those two had stopped at the shattered remains of the asteroid military base to pick over the pieces. Using the _Archangel's_ speed advantage, we had run at low-power to avoid detection. Now that we had successfully eluded detection, the ship's massive thrusters could be used, and we could make for an Atlantic Federation or another Earth Alliance base.

Now that we were out of immediate danger I could get out of the blue flight suit I'd been wearing for too long and put on another Atlantic Federation uniform. At a wall terminal in the pilot's ready room, I requested, "Could Sai and the others join me in the hanger? I want to make some modifications to the Gundam's MOS."

Ensign Badgiruel, the ship's Weapons Officer, responded, "I'll send them down right away."

"Thank you."

The project of the day was the Strike's targeting system – in the last couple of engagements I hadn't been able to hit the broad side of a barn. A part of the reason was because I had no formal training, but another part of it was the incomplete targeting program. In its original configuration, the O.M.N.I. Enforcer mobile suit operating system had only allowed for rough movement. When I had first been forced to rewrite the MOS it had improved the Strike's operation, and with the other's help I'd been able to stabilize the system for operation in the resource colony, Heliopolis. Later we had made modifications for zero-g and vacuum operation.

After the last battle with the stolen GAT-X series mobile suits I hadn't had the time until now to work with my friends to fix the targeting system.

Sai Argyle, Tolle Koenig, Miriallia Haw, and Kuzzey Buskirk, had been working with me on the O.M.N.I. Enforcer program under Professor Kato as part of our studies at the Heliopolis Technical College. Genius' in their own rights, they helped me decompile the series of programs that operated the mobile suit, debugging a few, and then recompiling them into the operating system. As we were finishing up, I told them, "Thanks guys; I couldn't have done this without out."

"Do you want us to stick around until you're done?" Tolle asked, leaning in to watch as I typed.

"No, all that's left is the security program, and then I have to approve the maintenance logs," I told my roommate. "Go ahead, and I'll meet you in the mess hall."

"That sounds like a good idea," Kuzzey said, rubbing his stomach. "I wonder if they'll allow us more water now that we're out of danger."

Cheerfully, Miriallia enthused, "Let's go see."

As they drifted off I continued working, installing a simpler, yet much faster, security program into the operating system to prevent the theft of the mobile suit. It would basically default back to the original MOS, making it nearly impossible to move the Gundam, let alone steal it. With that done I could turn to checking the maintenance, signing off on the repairs to the damage from the battle inside Artemis' harbor. Finally, I could follow my friends to the mess.

In the mess I found all my friends sitting around one table. At the head of the table was Tolle, with Miriallia sitting next to him and Kuzzey on her other side. Sai and Flay Allster, Sai's fiancé, were sharing the other side of the table, but I noticed the space between them. Could they be on the outs, I wondered, my heart picking up its pace at the thought of hooking up with Flay if Sai dropped the ball.

Tolle broke that train of thought by asking, "Are you finished with the Strike's maintenance?"

"Yeah," I sighed, scratching at my stiff hair. Due to the water restrictions I hadn't been able to take a shower, and my hair was starting to get stiff. "But limited use of the washer just makes things so much more burdensome."

Most of the work had been cleaning out the joints of the mobile suit – a job that took an hour with the right equipment, and took far longer without.

Sai scooted over so that he was seated next to Flay and nudged her with his shoulder. The young woman stood and said demurely, "Uh, Kira? I'm sorry for what happened the other day. I said those things without really thinking."

"About what?" I wondered

"While at Artemis," she clarified, "I said that you're a Coordinator."

Right, that. I wasn't the type to hold grudges, and I had managed to be in the Strike when the Blitz attacked Artemis, so everything had worked out. "Oh, never mind that," I told her. "I'm not upset about it. Besides, it's true."

She sounded relieved when she said, "Thank you."

I noticed the glasses on the table then – less than half full, and likely all the water that we would get with our meal. The _Archangel_ had been unable to be resupplied at Artemis as the Eurasian Federation military had thought to detain the ship indefinitely, to study both it and the Strike. Rationing had been announced yesterday, and I looked like it would remain in effect for the entire trip.

What do the captain and officers plan to do, I wondered.

For the time being all that I could do was take a tray of prepared meals and try to choke it down with the scant amount of water I was provided. Once done, the others had to head back to the bridge to finish out their shifts while I headed to the pilot's ready room to study. Even though we had left the _Laurasia_-class and the stolen GAT-X series mobile suits behind I still felt the need to understand more about them in case they caught up with us. Their commander seemed to have an uncanny knack for predicting our movements, so Lieutenant La Flaga had agreed, as had the captain, though Ensign Badgiruel had objected.

The GAT-X102 Duel and X103 Buster shared the same frame as the Strike, the X105, and had the ability to mount additional weapons. X102 Duel had been designed primarily for short to medium range combat, possessing a pair of beam sabers, a shield, and a beam rifle with an underslung rocket. It was supposed to have additional close-in weapons, but those had been left of Heliopolis. Likewise, the X103 Buster had been designed for a particular combat role, that of artillery support, and was equipped with a 350mm electromagnetic rail gun and an anti-armor shotgun that could be combined into a hyper impulse long-range sniper rifle. Additional weapons included a beam rifle and two 220mm six-barrel missile pods, mostly as defensive weapons.

In a radical departure from the others, the GAT-X207 Blitz and X303 Aegis could not equip additional weaponry, but did have capabilities the others did not. As I had seen in the battle while approaching Artemis, the X303 Aegis could transform into a mobile armor with four long limbs designed to hold other mobile suits and either sprint them out of combat or blast them with a beam cannon at the base of the limbs. The X207's ability was called 'Mirage Colloid', which coated the mobile suit in particles that warped light and sensor readings around it. We were all fairly sure that was how ZAFT forces had infiltrated Artemis, waiting until the Armore Lumiare light-wave barrier had been closed and then getting under that defense without the Eurasian forces realizing it.

"All auxiliary crew members to the bridge," the captain's voice called over the internal speakers.

Putting away my reading, I headed out, wondering what this was about, and hoping it wasn't more rationing.

Some of the other refugees from Heliopolis and volunteered their talents, though must had been put to use in the maintenance or engineering departments. I joined them and the mix of enlisted personnel at the front of the bridge so that the officers could address us. Captain Murrue Ramius sat in the central command chair, with Lieutenant Mu La Flaga floating in zero-g behind her, and Ensign Natarle Badgiruel seated to one side. The separation between the two female officer seemed to be a definition of their characters – the two got along because they had to, but were quite divided in their opinions.

"We think we know where to get supplies," the captain announced.

"Supplies," Tolle repeated.

Sai added, "We can get supplies? Where?"

Lieutenant La Flaga corrected, "Get supplies, yes. Or, more accurately, take supplies."

"We're currently on our way to the debris belt," Ramius explained.

Confused, Tolle asked, ""Debris Belt"?"

The term meant more to Sai than the rest of us, and he blurted out, "But . . . wait a minute! You're not saying . . ."

"You're pretty bright," the lieutenant complemented, though he wagged his finger as he did so.

"The debris belt," the captain offered the rest of us, "consists of a wide variety of things drifting in space. Of course, that includes ships that have been destroyed in battle."

Tolle voiced what we were probably all thinking, "You're not suggesting we get our supplies from . . ."

"What other choice do we have?" Mu interrupted before the word 'dead' could be spoken aloud. "Unless we do, we're not gonna last."

Going on, the captain laid out, "Once we're there, we'd like you to help us with work outside the ship, using pods."

Seeing our reluctance, Ensign Badgiruel added, "We're not too delighted about this either. But we have no other choice, if we wanna survive."

In an effort to reassure us, Murrue put in, "We're not going there to hunt around for things that others have lost. We're just going to take a small share of what we're in immediate need of. In order to live."

Looking to my friends, I could see that even though none of us liked it, we all understood the necessity. We agreed, and were given our assignments. I would be flying over-watch in the Strike with Lieutenant La Flaga in his Mobius Zero, while those rated for it would pilot MAW-01 Mistral mobile worker pods. The two-seater mobile armors weren't designed for combat, though sometimes they were up-armored and outfitted with weapons, and had four grasper arms for industrial work in zero gravity.

The debris belt was an artificial ring around the planet Earth, made up of things left behind by humanity during our colonization of space. As Lieutenant La Flaga had said, this included whole ships that had been drawn into the stable gravitational field and held there. We needed ship-to-ship weapons, food, but most importantly water, and we hoped to find all of that in the warships that had been caught up in the belt over the past year.

What we found, though, none of us were prepared for.

Giving voice to our astonishment, Tolle gasped, "Why, this is . . . A continent? Out here?"

Beneath us, amid debris like cars and farming equipment, was a landmass the size of a small continent, perfectly circular and bordered by massive spires of twisted metal. We could see houses, shops, and other buildings, almost perfectly preserved in the vacuum. "Junius Seven," I said aloud, realizing that the debris we were seeing was the PLANT destroyed by Earth Alliance forces the previous year – the Bloody Valentine that had turned a witch-hunt for PLANT Committee Chairman Siegal Clyne into the Bloody Valentine War.

From what I understood, the reasoning behind the barbaric act had been to cow the PLANTs into submitting, with the threat that the other PLANTs could be destroyed at leisure. Unfortunately for the Earth Forces, they'd underestimated the public opinion backlash that was to follow: the people of Earth demanded an immediate cessation of hostilities. Outraged by the deaths of over 200,000 people, almost entirely Coordinators, the PLANT Supreme Council had given ZAFT permission to launch attacks on Earth, and so the war had begun.

In the lead Mistral Ensign Badgiruel ordered, "01, 02, Strike, land and perform a cursory search. The other Mistrals will continue on.

We all repeated our understanding, and then landed to perform our grim task. The vacuum of space was excellent for preserving the bodies of the dead, and there were plenty of dead to be found. Opening doors we found mothers clutching their children, and other scenes that seemed to drive the point of how horrible war could be into our hearts.

"We're withdrawing," Ensign Badgiruel ordered. "Everyone, back to the ship."

Onboard ship we were recalled to the bridge – the other Mistrals had completed a cursory search of nearby ships. They had found everything we needed except for:

"That water other there?" I asked, pointing out the bridge viewport towards the remains of Junius Seven. "Are you serious?"

"There's close to a hundred million tons of water frozen over on it," Ensign Badgiruel pointed out.

I countered, "But you saw for yourself, didn't you, Ms. Badgiruel? That PLANT is where hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives. And yet . . ."

"That's the only water we've been able to find," the captain interrupted.

Lieutenant La Flaga put in, "No one's jumping for joy. No one's shouting, "Horray! We found water!"

He was right, of course, I had to give him that.

"Nobody wants to step onto that graveyard if it can be helped," he stressed, "But it can't be helped! We're alive! That means we must continue to live!"

"Water only," Sai clarified, and the military officers were quick to agree.

Miriallia spoke up, adding, "I'd also like to do a tribute to the dead. Maybe . . . scatter some paper flowers over the colony?"

The captain nodded, agreeing, "I think that would be appropriate. You could get the other refugees to help you."

Knowing that we were going to honor the loss of life helped assuage our guilt over what we were about to do, which most of us agreed was akin to grave robbing, but it was something that had to be done. We were given a couple of hours to clear our heads before heading back out, and most of us spent that time helping Miriallia and Flay fold origami flowers. The ceremony was solemn, with little fanfare and only a few words said by the captain, apologizing for the loss of life and pledging not to make the mistakes of the past – never again would so many be lost for no reason.

After that, it was back to work, harvesting the ice that had been formed when the island-like formation of the PLANT had been flash-frozen. Mistrals outfitted with cutting belts did that work, while the others ferried supplies from the wreckage of ships that drifted past. We were all quiet as we worked, or in my case, patrolled.

In his Mobius Zero, Lieutenant La Flaga and I make a circuit around the near-perfect circle that was the ruins of Junius Seven, mostly calling out likely prospects but also keeping an eye out for scavengers that were said to frequent this area of space.

"How much longer," Captain Ramius asked over the radio.

And the lieutenant answered, "I'd say about four hours. Although we'll have enough ammunition with one more trip."

I paused in my patrol when I spotted something out of the ordinary. "A civilian ship?" I wondered as it drifted out from behind a larger piece of debris. "It must've been sunk."

That did beg the question: what was a civilian ship doing running the gauntlet of the debris belt, but I didn't have much time to really consider the subject. My sensor board registered heat and movement, zeroing in on a mobile suit that maneuvered out from behind the ship. Taking cover, I watched as the computer identified the mobile suit as a ZGMF-LRR 704B.

"A reconnaissance-type two-seater GINN?!" I remembered from my studies. "What's it doing here?"

Possessing more powerful sensors than a standard GINN – the mainstay of the ZAFT mobile suits – there was the potential for the Recon-GINN to discover the ship, and, "If it finds the _Archangel_ and calls for backup, we're finished," I reasoned.

Taking aim, I watched as the GINN started to pull away, withdrawing slowly backwards. "Go!" I begged, even though the ZAFT mobile suit and pilots couldn't hear me, "Go away! Just leave."

The GINN turned, and began to maneuver away. Letting go of the trigger I sighed, "Good," but then one of the Mistrals drifted between me and the other mobile suit.

"You fool!" I cursed as the ZAFT machine detected the heat and motion of the mobile worker pod and turned, bringing its rifle to bear. It was unlikely that they would identify the pod as belonging to the Earth Alliance, more likely assuming that it belonged to scavengers, but he would likely investigate. "Why'd you have to notice?"

"I've gotta . . ." I told myself, reluctant to pull the trigger.

The ZAFT pilot had no such reluctance, and pulled the trigger, missing the first shot and landing a glancing blow with the second. I heard Kuzzey and Mr. Chandra's voices crying out in alarm and steeled myself for what I had to do. Pulling the trigger I managed to blow the left arm off of the GINN, and retargeting I put the next two shots center mass.

A fire erupted where the cockpit of the two-seater mobile suit had once been, secondary explosions taking out the rest of the machine.

Over the radio I heard Kuzzey call out, "Thanks, Kira!"

"I seriously thought I was going to die," Crewman Chandra added.

I should have warned them, I realized. I should have called out to the Mistrals to stop until the GINN had left the area. Those deaths, those two people, the would have left – their deaths, just like the deaths of all the people on Junius Seven had been a tragic waste. And this time, I had been the one to pull the trigger.

"Kid!" Mu called over the radio, "What hap . . .?"

Turning off the radio, I slammed my fists against the console, silently cursing myself for not warning the others. My total kill count was now up to 3, but unlike the death of the GINN pilot on Heliopolis these two could have been avoided. I was in that mindset when the sensors picked up another heat/motion carry, along with a distress signal, and I looked up to see what they were focused on.

"A lifepod?" I wondered. It was small, only large enough for one or two people at most, but it definitely hadn't come from the mobile suit. The civilian ship, maybe?

Bringing the radio back online, I called out, "Strike to _Archangel_, I've found a lifepod that is transmitting a distress signal and am bringing it onboard."

There was a pause before Captain Ramius answered, "Permission granted, Strike. Mistrals, finish up what you're doing and return to the ship."

I followed orders, belatedly realizing that I should have asked permission instead of making a declaration, but I'd felt so guilty about wasting two lives that I'd felt compelled to save a life if I could.

Back inside the ship, I changed out of my flight suit while Chief Murdock worked to unlock the lifepod. As it was of a ZAFT design, four crewmen with rifles were called, and we were joined by Ensign Badgiruel, who accused, "You must really enjoy bringing back things that others left behind," the captain, and a couple of my friends. The last being mostly curious.

"I'm opening it," the chief called out, running a security algorithm through his electronic bypass while the security officers took aim.

The armored door flipped up, and a secondary door/ramp lowered. At first, nothing happened. And then a pink robot a little larger than a softball emerged from the lifepod, opening and closing flaps to propel itself through the air while chanting, "Haro. Haro."

It past me, still chanting, "Haro. Lacus. Haro."

A girl's voice brought my attention back to the lifepod: "Thank you. I appreciate your assistance."

She was beautiful, with long, flowing pink hair and large dark-blue eyes that seemed to sparkle with her gratitude. Wearing a designer dress – a white shoulderless top, with a lavender overskirt and long purple underskirt – she looked like she'd been attending some formal ceremony before being shoved into the lifepod. That she was a Coordinator was almost immediately obvious – her hair color combined with the perfect balance of her features. What really amazed me was that she could smile, even after her ship had been destroyed and she'd spent who knew how long in that pod.

I found myself wondering who she was, and wanting to know more about her.

End Episode Seven

NOTE: Not much happens in this episode, which is why I gave Kira time to research mobile suits and the other GAT-Xs. In my attempts to make him more realistic I've had him working with the other members of Professor Kato's seminar because I've already established that they are geniuses in their own rights, not just hangers-on. Hopefully that makes sense. If not, be sure to tell me in the comments!


	8. The Songstress of the Enemy

Genie's Trap: A Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Fan Fiction

Episode Eight: The Songstress of the Enemy

Date: January 30th, C.E. 71

I didn't know what the officers of the Atlantic Federation warship _Archangel_ had expected to find when they opened the lifepod, but I was pretty sure that it wasn't a pink articulated ball chanting, "Haro. Haro." The little robot flapped its arm covers like wings to keep its orientation in zero gravity as we all let it pass us.

"Haro. Lacus. Haro," it repeated as it past me.

A girl's voice pulled my attention away from the toy, and I looked back at the pod to see a beautiful young woman drifting out of it. "Thank you," she called out to the gathering, "I appreciate your assistance."

She had long pink hair, accented by a pair of gold chevrons holding her left bang away from her large blue eyes. "Huh?" she intoned as she looked around, taking in the hanger with a startled expression.

"Huh? Huh?" the young woman repeated, her toy robot echoing, "Haro. Haro. Haro," as if reminding her of its name. "Haro. Lacus."

By this point she was drifting past me, and I reached out a hand, catching her arm near the elbow and gently pulling her to the deck. "Haro. Haro," the robot cheered, as its owner said, "Thank you," with such genuine affection that I found myself blushing in response.

"Uh, no problem," I told her.

She seemed to demure, dropping her eyes from mine, but that just caused her to look for something else to look at, her attention catching on the Atlantic Federation patch on the left shoulder of my uniform. "Huh?" she exclaimed, and was echoed by the pink robot, "Haro."

Looking at the assembly of officers she repeated, "Huh? Huh?" Gently pulling free of me she noted, "Oh, my. This is not a ZAFT ship, is it?"

"Is that so?" her pink robot asked.

Ensign Badgiruel put her hand on her forehead, while the captain asked, "Pardon?"

"I think," Lieutenant La Flaga said, taking control of the situation, "That we should talk in private. Captain, Ensign, Miss."

With regal bearing, the young woman responded, "I believe that would be best, sir." She looked around, though, taking in the mobile suit standing against one wall next to a mobile armor, an expression of curiosity flitting across her features before she settled into a slight smile.

A lot of us followed, wondering about the young woman and curious about her story. The security detail, the only four security officer on the ship, were excused to return to their regular duties, making an opening for Tolle, Kuzzey, and Sai, along with Crewmen Chandra and Tonomura, to press their ears against the door, trying to listen in. I stood back, not because I wasn't curious, or because my hearing was any better, but because the five of them had the door pretty well covered.

"What are they saying?" Tolle whispered.

"I can't hear!" Kuzzey complained. "Shut up, Tolle."

"Will you guys be quiet?" Sai admonished them both.

It reminded me of something out of a sitcom, but wasn't quite as funny when the door opened to reveal the black haired Weapons Officer, Ensign Natarle Badgiruel glaring at all of us. "You guys haven't finished loading yet!" she practically growled. "Get back to work right now!"

The guys scattered, leaving me standing on the opposite side of the hall. Through the door I could see the pink-haired girl, who smiled as if happy to see me and waved. Not knowing what to do when a girl takes notice of me, I turned and retreated down the hallway. I too had work undone – we still needed to bring in the ice that we'd been harvesting from the ruins of Junius Seven, and I definitely wanted to take a shower before I encountered the young woman again.

Changing out into my flight suit, I took the Strike out, helping to bring in the larger blocks of ice which would have required two or more Mistral mobile worker pods to maneuver. I worked as quickly as I could, knowing that a lot of people were waiting on the water – we had been on short rations the last few days. The work was not difficult, though, which left me with a lot of time to think about the pink-haired girl and her situation.

It was only later, after all the ice had been brought aboard, that I realized that the GINN that I had shot down might have been looking for her. Again, I was assaulted by the guilt: if I had just called in the sighting I might not have had to shoot down the mobile suit, killing the two pilots within.

From the mess hall, I heard Flay's voice exclaiming, "No way!" and as I continued down the hall Miriallia admonished, "Flay!"

However, Flay as adamant, "When I say no way, I mean no way!"

"Why not," Miriallia demanded.

I stepped inside to find the two girls standing over a tray of food with Kuzzey a few steps back. To Kuzzey, I asked, "What's wrong?"

The youngest of my friends from Heliopolis Technical College answered, "It's about the girl's meal. Milly asked Flay to take it to her, but Flay refuses. That's all they're quarreling about."

Stubbornly, Flay maintained, "I'm not going to!" and then went on to reveal, "I'm too afraid to go near a Coordinator."

That was a stab, because I was a Coordinator.

"Flay!" Miriallia hissed, nodding towards me.

"O-Of course, it's different with you, Kira," she corrected herself. "I know that much. But that girl's with ZAFT, right?" The red-head reasoned, "Coordinators are not only smart, they're superior in other areas, too, like reflexes! What happens if I'm attacked? Right?"

Miriallia gave me a contrite look – Flay was pretty much describing me with that statement about intellect and physical abilities. Again, she admonished, "Flay!"

Kuzzey put in, "But I can't imagine that girl would suddenly pounce on you." He sounded like he wouldn't have minded being pounced on by the pink-haired young woman, but his words had merit.

Flay scathed, "You don't know that for sure! You can't determine the abilities of a Coordinator by just looking at them! What if she's really strong? Right?"

She was looking for validation, support for beliefs that she had picked up over the course of her lifetime. I was reminded again that Flay was from the Atlantic Federation, a government that was opposed to genetic modification, though they usually tolerated the genetically modified. There was nothing that I could say to counter her claim – usually, parents requested genetic modification for their children because they wanted to give their children stronger bodies or clearer minds. You couldn't tell what had been done just by looking at them.

Of course, it didn't help settle Flay's doubts that the subject of her fears spoke up, asking, "My, who's this really strong person you're talking about?"

We all turned and stared in surprise at the pink-haired young woman standing in the mess hall doorway, her pink ball robot cheering, "Haro. I'm fine. So are you."

Seeing our expressions of surprise, she apologized, "My, if I caused some sort of commotion, I apologize," going on to explain, "I'm thirsty. And please don't laugh when I say this. I'm quite hungry as well." Innocently she asked, "Is this the dining room?"

"Thank you. Thank you," the little robot cried as it bounced nearly shoulder level, flapping its arm flaps excitedly.

Coming around the table, she remarked, "I'd be very grateful if I could have a bite of something."

"But wait a minute," I exclaimed.

As if trying to get her attention the pink robot announced, "Haro. Lacus. Haro."

"Didn't they bother to lock her room?" Kuzzey wondered.

"This is nuts!" Flay agreed. "Why is someone from ZAFT allowed to walk around alone without permission?"

Innocently, the young woman explained, "But I had no intention of going out without permission. So I called out from my room. I said, "May I leave this room?" I asked three times."

The young woman reasoned, "Besides, I don't belong to ZAFT. ZAFT is the name of the military, and it stands for Zodiac Alliance of Freedom . . ."

Flay intrupted, "I-It makes no difference! You're still a Coordinator!"

"It is different," the pink-haired girl corrected. "Yes, I am a Coordinator," she confirmed, and then countered, "but I don't belong to the military." Looking Flay up and down, taking in the slightly rumpled pink dress the other was wearing, she noted, "You don't belong to the military either, do you?" On that line of logic the young woman deduced, "Then you and I are the same."

Holding out her hand, the young woman offered, "Excuse me for not introducing myself. I'm . . ."

Flay recoiled from the pink-haired girl, shrieking, "Hey! No! Stop it!" Actually holding her hands behind her back as if to prevent skin-to-skin contact. "You must be outta your mind!" the red-head remarked, sounding genuinely frightened. "Why should I have to shake hands with you? I don't want any Coordinators like you acting friendly to me!"

It was like she had taken my heart and crushed it. Flay was, well, one of the most beautiful girls I knew – I'd been in love with her from almost the first moment I'd laid eyes on her. What did she mean like that, though? Was I one of the Coordinators that she didn't want acting friendly with her? Suddenly it seemed like even if she broke up with Sai, Flay Allster would never go out with me.

"L-Let's take a step back," Miriallia reasoned, picking up the tray that was meant for our guest and handing it to me. "Kira, could you take Miss . . .?"

"My name is Lacus," the young woman offered, "Lacus Clyne."

"Could you take Miss Clyne back to her room?" my friend asked.

"Sure," I said, taking the tray.

Lacus fell in behind me, her pink robot bouncing as it followed, calling out, "Hello. Hello," to everyone we passed on our way back to the officer's quarters. "What? Whatever," it responded to some overheard conversation. "Let's play. I won't accept that."

I quickly realized that it was repeating phrases that it had picked up from Ms. Clyne over the years that it had been active.

"Must I stay here again?" the young woman moaned as we entered her assigned quarters.

"Thank you," the robot, Haro, responded, more reasonably. "Thank you."

Trying to sound reassuring, I advised, "Yes. You should."

The little robot swore in response, probably something Ms. Lacus had said when being told something similar in the past.

Pouting, she announced, "That's no fun," while taking a seat in one of the two desk chairs present in officer quarters. "I'm all alone here," she reasoned. "I'd prefer to enjoy my meal over there while talking with everybody."

Lacus, it seemed, was a very social person. I envied her that – for the longest time I had been the only one with genetic modifications my age. Told by my parents to keep my status as a Coordinator a secret had lead me to insulate myself against talking about it. A part of me wished that I could sit down and enjoy a meal with people, without the worry of saying something that would upset them.

"Good afternoon," the robot chimed.

Being reasonable, I explained, "This ship belongs to the Earth Forces. So there are many people who, well, don't think too highly about Coordinators." That wasn't quite true, because most of the crew had gotten to know me, and accepted me for who I was. Maybe a better explanation was, "Or, simply, the two sides are enemies."

I meant the Earth Alliance and PLANTs, but there were plenty of people who believed that the war was between 'Naturals' and 'Coordinators', the group known as Blue Cosmos, for example. They maintained that people who have their genes manipulated, even if they're not sick or anything like that are a mistaken existence that opposes nature's providence. Like the Klu Klux Klan of the previous era, they were quick to persecute any known Coordinator, which was why most kept their genetic status a secret, or immigrated to the PLANTs or neutral nations, like Orb.

The problem with their claim is that Coordinators do not choose to have their genes manipulated – that choice is made by their parents while their child is still in the zygotic stage of development. From what I understood, however, correcting a Blue Cosmos member on that point was provocation to them. More than one unmodified person had been beaten to death for coming to the defense of a genetically modified person – their prejudice was so ingrained.

"Lacus," Haro seemed to prompt.

"That's a shame," she sighed.

"You, too," the robot seemed to agree.

"But you're very kind," the young woman pointed out. "Thank you."

"I'm . . ." I hesitated before revealing, "I'm also a Coordinator."

"You, too," Haro repeated.

She cocked her head, remarking, "Is that right? But the reason you are kind," she reasoned, "Is that you are you, right?"

That was my belief, too; that genetic modification could only contribute to the person you become. I was kind to everyone, not just fellow Coordinators, which contradicted the hardline messages being spouted by both sides – that 'Naturals' and 'Coordinators' could never coexist. Just as easily, I could have hated my genetic status, could have been ashamed and tried to hide, and perhaps even hated my parents or other Coordinators, as others had.

"Would you mind telling me your name?" Lacus asked, reminding me that I'd not introduced myself.

"Ah, K-Kira," I responded. "Kira Yamato."

"Thank you," she told me, coyly adding, "Mr. Kira."

Blushing, I told her, "I'd better get going," and made my escape.

Outside the door I took a breath, trying to sort out my feelings, but was interrupted by Sai calling out my name. He ran up to my side and told me, "I heard from Miri.

Putting his hand on my shoulder, he cautioned, "Don't let it bother you. I'll talk to Flay later."

What was he talking about? Talk to Flay? I thought they were on the outs!

Behind us we heard through the door the young woman singing. Her voice was melodious, practiced, as she sang, _"In this quiet night . . . I'm here waiting for you. Forgetting the past . . . Your precious smile . . . has faded away. Since then . . . now that a little . . . time has passed . . . past memories . . . have over time . . . become more precious."_

She sang in such a melancholy tone that I wanted to step back into the room and comfort her.

_"I find myself, where the stars fall. Right here I wish . . . that you will once again be laughing."_

I wondered who she was singing about, because it seemed like she had someone in mind as she said the words.

_"Even today . . . even now."_

"What a beautiful voice," Sai remarked. Then he sighed, "But I can't help wondering if that voice is also . . . a result of fiddling with her genes."

He wasn't facing me, so he couldn't see the shock on my face. To me it was obvious that Lacus had spent many long hours learning tone and pitch, inflection and nuance, becoming the singer she was. Why was it so easy for people to believe that Coordinators like Lacus had everything easy – that they didn't have to train or practice? Just having a talent for something, even if that talent could be genetically coded, didn't mean that the person enjoyed the talent.

Listening to Lacus, I thought that all the hard work to perfect her voice must have been for some purpose – so that she could share her voice with others, probably. I had been studying all my life, trying to find my niche, so that I could share my knowledge with my community and my country. Lacus had found her niche, it seemed, but people were still prone to doubt us because they thought genetic modification was a cheat.

I wondered if Sai thought that's what I was. Some kind of cheat.

Changing the subject completely, my friend called out, "Okay, let's go. We've gotta get something to eat, too."

I followed him a few paces before saying, "Uh, you know what. Go ahead: I'm supposed to be meeting with Chief Murdock."

Sai seemed disappointed, and he frowned at me before nodding, "Don't forget that you have to eat, too, Kira. You're not a machine."

Genuine concern – that was reassuring. "I won't," I promised. "See you later."

"Yea, see you later, Kira," Sai said, turning and continuing to the mess hall.

I went the other way, heading towards the hanger with my head buzzing. Everyone was acting so strange, I thought as I entered the hanger and pushed off towards the gantry in front of the giant machine – the Strike Gundam. Chief Murdock, a middle-aged man wearing a two-tone white and orange jumpsuit, was performing maintenance.

"I'm sorry I'm late," I called out as I joined him.

"Oh, right," he said, coming out of whatever train of thought he'd been having. "I made changes to the standing geometry offset values," the chief explained. "I want you to check it over."

"Sure," I replied.

"Although you may never be using this guy again," he revealed. My look of confusion prompted him to explain, "I thought you'd have heard already – we're in contact with the _Montgomery_, of the 8th Fleet and are on our way to meet up with it. Once we're back with the fleet you and the other young people will be heading out with the refugees, right?"

"I suppose we will," I told him, looking up at the sleeping giant of a mobile suit.

End Episode Eight

NOTE: I do not own Gundam SEED, nor am I making any money from this fan fiction. Again, an episode where nothing much happens. We learn that Flay sympathizes with Blue Cosmos and get to learn a little more about the new love interest. Please leave comments – I need the help if I'm going to develop the fan fiction.


	9. The Fading Light

Genie's Trap: A Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Fan Fiction

Episode Nine: The Fading Light

Date: January 31st, C.E. 71

My fingers flew over the keyboard, typing out the commands as if by route, the changes to the X105 Strike's operating system being displayed on the main monitor. The academic pursuit was soothing, but it was rather ironic that I found that peace sitting in the cockpit of a machine built for war. I'd heard the term 'any port in a storm' from some of the older students at Heliopolis Technical College, in reference to various coeds. For some reason a mobile suit's cockpit was my port.

"Yo," a voice called out, and I leaned sideways so that I could see around the main monitor. It was Chief Petty Officer Murdock, the head of the maintenance division aboard the _Archangel_.

"What is it?" I asked, pushing up the monitor so that we could talk without leaning uncomfortably to one side.

He shrugged, responding, "Nothing, just wondering how it is."

"I'm just making a few adjustments to match the offset levels," I explained. The maintenance team had adjusted the standing geometry, and I wanted to make sure that the OS was adjusted to take in the new values. Then I realized that the Strike was likely to be stripped down for study, and added, "But I guess it's unnecessary."

Murdock leaned into the cockpit, uncomfortably close and with a slight reek of alcohol on his breath. "Go ahead and do what's needed," he said, his breath burning my nose as he patted me on the shoulder. "It's still your job until we safely join the others."

Pulling back, the chief added, "If you want, you're free to volunteer to remain in the military."

"Not a chance in hell," I muttered while resuming my work. I hated war, and would never have piloted the Strike in the first place if it hadn't been to protect my friends, and they would be disembarking with all the other once we reached the fleet.

Recompiling the OS, I finished up and put the Strike back into standby before grabbing a bite to eat and heading to bed. In recognition of my position as a pilot I had been assigned junior officer quarters. Technically, I shared the room with Lieutenant La Flaga, but he often slept in the pilot's ready room.

Junior officer quarters were identical, dual-occupancy spaces with actual doors, the two sides of the room being a mirror for the other. On either side of the door were a pair of desks, followed by two twin-sized beds separated by a narrow aisle, and wall lockers at the back of the room. The room was completely bare of personality because neither Lieutenant La Flaga nor I had anything to put up – though one of his girlie-magazines was sticking out from under his mattress.

My plan had been to get a few hours of sleep, but that was dashed when the alarms started sounding and a voice called over the PA, "All hands, level one battle stations! I repeat. All hands, level one battle stations!"

I threw my jacket back on and ran out of my room, passing a door that opened behind me to emit the voice of our most recent refugee's toy robot. "Hello. Hello."

Muttering, "Again?" I turned to talk with the young woman standing in the doorway.

Lacus Clyne's eyes were innocently wide but her voice was untroubled as she asked, "What is it? Things are suddenly lively around here."

"We're at battle stations. Now, go inside," I explained, and putting my hands on her shoulders I pushed her back into her room, wondering, "What's the matter with the lock on this room?"

Unfortunately, I'd forgotten about the pink, ball shaped robot, which was bouncing on my side opposite the door. "Haro. Haro. Haro. Haro," it repeated its name. "I won't accept that! I won't accept that!"

From what I understood the little robots, about the size of a softball, memorized and repeated phrases commonly spoken by their owners, leading me to believe that Miss Clyne had a backbone behind her doe-eyed looks.

"Battle stations?" Lacus exclaimed, coming back to the door. "My, are you entering a battle?"

"That's right," I explained. "Or we're already in one."

"Oh?" the pink Haro asked.

Sounding genuinely concerned, the young woman asked, "Will you be fighting, too, Mr. Kira?"

I changed the subject, telling her, "In any case, you are not to leave this room. Make sure of that this time." There seemed to be no point in trying to lock her in, so I left her there and ran for the lift to the hanger level.

Behind me, Haro called out, "You, too!"

Unfortunately, I didn't get far before I was stopped again.

"Kira!"

I stopped and turned to find Flay Allster running to join me. She'd smoothed out her hair and her dress since the last time I had seen her, and had done something to her face that made her look as fresh at the time I'd seen her before the collapse of Heliopolis.

"What's this about going to battle stations?" she demanded. "What about the advanced force?"

"I have no idea," I told her, wishing that I could tell her more. "I don't know what's going on.

She grabbed my arm when I tried to move on, asking, "It's gonna be okay, right? My papa's ship won't be destroyed, will it? Will it?"

A pair of blue flames seemed to flicker across my vision, and I thought: JINX!

The thought was funny, but I tried to turn that into a reassuring smile, telling the girl, "It'll be okay, Flay. Since we'll be there, too."

I meant all of us – myself in the Strike and Lieutenant La Flaga in his Mobius Zero, and Sai, Kuzzey, Miriallia and Tolle, on the bridge. She seemed to accept my reassurance and didn't stop me as I resumed my sprint down the hallway towards the hanger. A quick change into my flight suit and I was ready to board the Strike.

"You're late, Kid!" Chief Murdock accused.

"Sorry," I called back, wanting to add 'girl problems' but holding my tongue.

On the right auxiliary monitor Miriallia explained, _"The enemy consists of a _Nazca_-class, three GINNs, and the Aegis. Be careful."_

Sai popped up on the monitor to add,_ "Kira! Flay's father's with the advanced force. Please keep that in mind."_

"Sure thing," I promised.

The Strike's maintenance cradle was moved to the launch tube and lowered until the feet settle into the chalks while Miriallia counted off her checklist. _"Connected to catapult. Aile Striker, standby. Systems all green. Course clear. Go ahead, Strike."_

Although the chalks started the Strike moving, it was the electromagnetic mass driver was what really got the mobile suit going. I reached for the Phase Shift switch but hesitated, pulling my hand back and checking the sensor board. According to the sensors there were three Earth Alliance ships, the _Montgomery, Bernard, _and _Law_, the _Bernard _damaged beyond recovery. As I approached the Aegis in mobile armor mode used its "Scylla" 580mm multi-phase energy cannon to punch a whole through the _Law_, not quite sinking it, but doing massive damage.

Athrun Zala, in the Aegis, seemed to be the biggest threat, and I figured that if I could keep him occupied the _Montgomery_, Zero, and other mobile armors, could deal with the two remaining GINNs, while the _Archangel_ could handle the _Nazca_-class. Activating the PS armor, I closed the distance as the Aegis transformed from mobile armor to mobile suit. In this mode we were both equipped with beam rifles, anti-beam shields, and beam sabers, though the Aegis had more sabers than the Aile Striker.

There was no conversation, no attempt to make the other understand their reasons. It was both a blessing and a disappointment. Blessing, because I didn't have to hear him rant about this war being Natural verses Coordinator, and that I was betraying our people by siding with the Naturals. Disappointment, because I wanted my old friend to understand and accept my reasoning, and to back off until my friends were out of harm's way. Athrun realized that I was coming after him and responded accordingly, going on the offensive as he had no doubt been trained to do.

We fired our rifles and dodged in the same moment, fired and dodged again and again, occasionally deflecting a beam blast with our shields. It was all that I could do to keep my old friend from shooting me down as we exchanged volleys. Beneath us the _Law _exploded, the sensors showing that the Zero was limping back towards the _Archangel_.

I drew a beam saber from the thruster pack on the Strike's back and Athrun deployed the saber built into his right arm. We clashed, saber to shield, each trying to overwhelm the heat-tolerance on the other's shield, except that an alarm had me breaking off contact before that could happen. A GINN, trying to take advantage of the distraction, few through the space we had been occupying. We came at each other again, slamming energy sabers against shields, and as we parted the Aegis switched into mobile armor mode to fire its Scylla energy cannon.

Dodging, I managed to get clear for a moment, but the red X303 switched back into mobile suit mode and came at me again. We clashed, and as we parted I fired the anti-air Vulcans in the Strike's head, trying to break the cycle of combat. My board showed good energy – I hadn't been as wasteful as our last engagement – but if this carried on for too much longer I'd end up in another 'Phase Shift Down' situation.

Beneath us, one of the GINNS fired on the _Montgomery_, taking out that ship's primary beam cannon turrets, and looking for the other I saw that it was going after the _Archangel_ only to be turned around by the ship's formidable anti-mobile suit defenses. Lieutenant La Flaga's damaged Zero had already fled the battlefield, and the last of the Earth Alliance mobile armors was nothing more than a rapidly expanding cloud of debris.

A flash of green – the _Nazca_-class destroyer had managed to get into range with its beam cannons despite the _Archangel's_ intervention. The twin lances of energy struck the _Montgomery_ broadside, punching identical holes through the ship. Unlike the _Law_, which had been able to fight after taking a blast from the Scylla, the lead ship of the advanced fleet began exhibiting secondary explosions immediately and blew apart.

No, I thought, Flay's father was aboard that ship!

Both GINNs were now free to attack the _Archangel_, and were headed that way when Ensign Badgiruel's voice called over a broad spectrum of radio frequencies: "_Attention, ZAFT forces! This is the_ Archangel _of the Earth Alliance Forces!"_

For a moment I thought that she'd assumed command, and was signaling surrender, but no. _"Currently in the care of this ship,"_ she announced, _"is PLANT Supreme Chairman Siegel Clyne's daughter, Lacus Clyne!"_

_"We came across a lifepod with her on board,"_ the ensign explained, _"and took her in, for humanitarian reasons."_

_"However, should you decide to attack this ship . . . we shall consider that as an abandonment," _she warned,_ "of your responsibilities to protect Miss Clyne. We will then take care of this situation as we see fit!"_

End Episode Nine

NOTE: I do not own Gundam SEED, nor am I making any money off this fan fiction. Not many changes this episode, other than a Genie's Trap reference. Honestly, I'm not sure if Flay blurting out, "My papa's ship won't be destroyed, will it?" is supposed to be foreshadowing or just bad writing, but when I realized what she'd said my immediate thought was "JINX!" so I included it. Questions, comments, and suggestions, are welcome – just leave them in the box below.


	10. Crossroads

Genie's Trap: A Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Fan Fiction

Episode Ten: Crossroads

Date: January 31st, C.E. 71

My radio cracked to life, the voice of Athrun Zala accusing me, "Using a rescued civilian as a hostage? Can 'Your Righteousness' fight alongside these cowards?" When I didn't respond immediately he shouted my name.

"Athrun . . .," I started, but my old friend cut me off.

"I'm going to save her," he swore. "You can count on it!"

With that, he turned his mobile suit around and headed back towards the _Nazca_-class destroyer that had ended combat operations. It was too late, however, as the three ships of the 8th Fleet's advanced forces continued to tumble through space. Doing a quick sweep I checked for lifepods, hoping that we could salvage something from so much loss of human life, but no. The secondary explosions from the reactors of the _Montgomery, Bernard_, and _Law_, had overwhelmed the thin hulls of the Earth Alliance lifepods and killed the occupants.

Turning around as well, I headed back to the _Archangel_, wondering what had happened. Why hadn't the ship been able to hold the _Nazca_-class? Why had the ensign used Lacus as a human shield and why had the captain allowed her to do it? More importantly, what was going to happen to Lacus now?

Miriallia called the landing, and it wasn't long before the Strike was back in its maintenance cradle and being repositioned next to Lieutenant La Flaga's mobile armor, a Mobius Zero space-superiority fighter with four outrigger weapons pods. The lieutenant himself was hanging around, admonishing the maintenance crew, "Hurry! We're not exactly done fighting!"

"I know!" Chief Petty Officer Murdock growled. "Man, is this ship cursed, or what?

"The curse is Le Creuset," La Flaga answered. From what I understood, the two of them, Mu La Flaga and Rau Le Creuset, had been in battle many times, to the point that Mu claimed he could sense Rau. I didn't know what to make of that: maybe they were twins separated at birth?

Joining them, I asked, "What the hell was that?"

Lieutenant La Flaga actually looked annoyed as he answered, "There's not much to explain. You heard for yourself. That's what happened."

He kicked off through zero-g, and I followed. "Taking that girl as a hostage and threatening them?" I pointed out. "Do the Earth Forces typically run from enemies like this?"

His expression had turned from annoyed to angry as he looked back at me. "The reason that they had to resort to such cowardly actions," he explained, "is because we're weak, right?"

That caught me off guard, but he wasn't wrong.

"Neither of us has the right to criticize the captain or the combat commander," he reasoned, though he didn't look too happy with his line of reasoning. I got the feeling that he was going to criticize both, but was waiting for a closed door before he aired his opinion to them.

I had to bite my tongue, having neither the rank nor the experience to do the same.

We changed in the pilot's ready room, and while Mu headed off to confront his fellow officers I went to check on Lacus, to make sure that she was alright. On my way, I heard the sound of a girl crying, and I broke into a sprint until I reached a Junior Officer Quarters door that was being kept ajar by a water bottle. Inside, I found Miriallia standing over Sai Argyle, who was holding Flay Allster in his arms as they sat on the floor.

Flay was crying, "This isn't real. This isn't happening. It can't be!"

"Kira," Miriallia tried to warn me as I stepped further into the room.

A part of me wished I were there on the floor, comforting her instead of Sai, but the moment was wrong for idol fantasies. She was in pain, and she needed all the sport that her friends could give her. I thought of myself as her friend, so I said her name, meaning to apologize for not being able to defend the _Montgomery._

"Liar!" she accused me, tears filling her grey eyes as she glared at me.

The force of her anger had me taking a half step back in fear.

"You said it was gonna be alright!" the girl shouted. "You said so, because you'd be there!"

I had said that, or something similar, and I turned away as the memory of my own failure struck me again.

She demanded to know, "Why didn't you protect Papa's ship? Why didn't you defeat those guys?!"

Coming to my defense, Miriallia countered, "Flay! Kira did his best!"

Yes, I had done my best to keep the Aegis busy so that it couldn't continue damaging the ships of the advanced force. Why hadn't the _Archangel_ been able to keep the _Nazca_-class contained? Why had the captain and ensign taken Lacus Clyne hostage?

"Because you're a Coordinator, too," Flay accused, breaking me out of my distraction, "you're not fighting seriously, are you?"

That stung, because it was partially true – I'd been trying to contain the Aegis, not trying to seriously destroy it because I'd known that my skill at mobile suit piloting wasn't enough. Athrun had undergone advanced military training, that was the meaning of the red flight suit I had seen him in on Heliopolis. In mobile suit combat he was the superior, whereas my strength came from my understanding of how the mobile suit worked.

Flay turned back to Sai, crying into his chest, "Papa. Bring Papa back to me. Bring Papa . . . back!"

"Flay . . ." I said again, meaning to apologize, but being unable to find the words. I was no good with words, I'd never been good with words; so I turned and ran away.

Behind me Miriallia called my name, but I kept running.

I went to one of my favorite places, the rear observation balcony, remembering Athrun's accusation, _"Using a rescued civilian as a hostage? Can 'Your Righteousness' fight alongside these cowards?"_

Mu's words, _"The reason they had to resort to such cowardly actions . . . is because we're weak, right?"_

Flay's accusation, _"Because you're a Coordinator, too, you're not fighting seriously, are you?"_

Reaching the aft observation balcony, with its wide windows looking out over the open space behind the ship. There, I tried to voice the impudent fury I felt at the situation, but what came out instead as a strangled cry as tears spilled from my eyes. After three full breaths of screams a voice broke in, asking, "What's the matter?"

I looked up to see Lacus Clyne staring at me with an expression of sympathy on her face, her pink haro cursing. She cocked her head, considering me for a moment before reaching up to wipe a tear from my cheek. Hastily I scrubbed my face with my sleeve, embarrassed at being caught crying.

"What are you doing out here?" I wondered. Last I had heard, she was still supposed to be confined to quarters, but so far neither concern for her wellbeing nor locked doors had been enough to keep her in her room.

"I was taking a stroll," she explained, pushing back to get a little distance, "when I heard a loud voice from this direction."

With a blush, I realized that I had been the reason that she'd come this way, but I reasoned, "You shouldn't be walking around on your own like this. You'll be accused of spying."

"Oh?" she wondered, probably seeing through my bravado. Coming closer and catching my hand to steady herself, she explained, "But Mr. Pink here . . ."

"Haro," the haro corrected.

". . . loves to take walks," she finished. Then she mused, "Or, in fact, if a door's locked, he will always open it and go out."

"I won't accept that!" the pink robot, about the size and shape of a softball, exclaimed while flapping its arm covers to move through the low-g environment.

"In any case," I countered, "let's go back to your room. Come on." I reached out my hand, offering to escort her, but she pushed away again.

"The fighting has come to an end, I see," Lacus commented as she drifted away.

"Well, yes," I agreed. "Thanks to you."

"Yet you have a very sad expression," the young woman noted.

"Well," I admitted, "the truth is that I really don't want to fight. I'm also a Coordinator," was my reasoning, "and Athrun was a very close friend of mine."

Lacus prompted, "Athrun?"

"Athrun Zala," I explained. Darkly, I wondered, "Who would've dreamed that he'd become the pilot of that mobile suit, the Aegis?"

After a moment, she remarked, "Is that so?" Hopping forward, took both my hands before saying, "Both Athrun and you are good people. That is a very sad reality."

With a start, I asked, "Do you know Athrun?"

Cheerfully, she explained, "Athrun Zala is the person I will eventually marry."

What? Well, that figured – all the girls my age seemed to be in committed relationships: Miriallia was dating Tolle and Flay was actually engaged to Sai. Now I found out that Lacus was engaged to Athrun. I was starting to see a pattern in my life.

"He's a kind person, but very quiet," she went on.

She reached out and caught the drifting robot, which repeated its name, before explaining, "But he gave me this Haro."

"Haro, Haro," the robot cheered.

Smiling at the sweet memory, she added, "I told him how much I enjoyed Haro . . . and he gave me lots of them."

I could just imagine Athrun spending hours modifying the little robot, both its articulation and programming – that was probably why the little toy knew so many words. "Is that so?" I sighed, feeling cheered by the thought. "Athrun hasn't changed one bit."

"My Birdy," I went on, "He made that, too." Even though it could only say one word, it could manage different inflections.

"Oh, is that so?" Lacus exclaimed.

The pink Haro cursed again, perhaps in objection to not being the first robot gifted.

My good humor drained out of me, however, leaving me to mutter bitterly, "But . . ."

Lacus finished for me, "It would be so nice if you two would no longer have to fight each other."

All I could do was nod, and hold out my hand again to escort her back to her room. My own quarters were only a couple of doors down, and after dropping her off I went to my room. Lieutenant La Flaga was asleep in his bed, for once, so I quietly curled up on my bed, my knees against my chest as I tried to sort out my feelings.

Torii, the Birdy that Athrun had made for me all those years ago, perched on my shoulder, chirping, "Birdy. Birdy. Birdy?" Uncurling, I held out a hand and allowed the little robot, like a green and yellow finch, to hop onto my hand.

Staring into its little eyes, I remembered Lacus telling me, _"Athrun Zala is the person I will eventually marry."_

"This just plain isn't right!" I told no one in particular.

It wasn't right that we were holding Lacus hostage. It wasn't right that Athrun and Lacus should be separated, especially not when Lacus seemed so certain about the relationship.

Getting up, I slipped back out of my room and headed for Lacus'. The door was unlocked, so I was able to slip inside to find the young woman asleep on her bed. Unfortunately, my daring, half-thought up plan hit its first hurdle when the pink Haro on the desk chimed, "Haro. No problem. No problem."

"Shhh," I warned it.

"What is it, Haro?" Lacus asked as she woke.

The robot swore as the young woman took in my presence. "Huh? Mr. Kira. What is the problem?"

"Please, don't say anything and come with me," I warned. "Be very quiet."

She dressed quickly while I kept lookout, and then together we crept through the enlisted compartments that were full of sleeping refugees, the Haro miraculously silent as it bounced along in our wake. However, I spotted a second complication, and pushed Lacus behind a bulkhead door jamb to hide her from Sai, who turned out to be waiting for Miriallia outside one of the alcoves assigned to female refugees.

He spotted me, calling out, "Kira?"

I put on my best, 'nothing to see here' expression, only to have Haro exclaim, "No problem. No problem," in a helpful tone.

"Let's do this," the robot added as my friend's jaws dropped.

They both came to stand with Lacus and I, Sai demanding, "What are you doing, Kira?"

I don't know where Miriallia's mind was at when she asked, "What do you plan to do with her? You're not . . .?!"

"Please pretend that you didn't see anything," I told them. "I don't wanna involve you guys in this. But I just can't stand this situation!"

Bouncing next to us, Haro encouraged, "Do your best. I'll do my best."

Sai rubbed the back of his head and reasoned, "Well, keeping a girl hostage is something the bad guys do." Looking me in the eyes, he offered, "I'll help."

"Sai . . .," I tried to counter, "I'm probably going to get into a lot of trouble for doing this; you'd get in trouble, too."

He nodded, looking to Miriallia, who nodded as well.

There really was no time to argue, and we headed down to the hanger, pausing at the pilot's ready room. While the others kept watch I rummaged through one of the lockers until I found a standard pressure suit the right size. "Wear this over what you're wearing now," I told Lacus, belatedly realizing that the frilly purple skirt she was wearing wouldn't allow her to close the front of the suit.

Lacus realized this as well, and began fiddling with her shoulders, pulling down shoulder straps that were hidden under her top and shimmying out of the skirt. I looked away, embarrassed, as she put on the pressure suit, stuffing the skirt in before closing it. After checking the seals on the fasteners, gloves and helmet, I led Lacus out to where the others were waiting.

For some reason seeing us gave Miriallia a start, and I didn't realize what was the problem until Sai commented, "Oh. Just wondering for a moment how she suddenly became pregnant."

The skirt was causing the belly of the pressure suit to bulge. Both Miriallia and I hung our heads at the joke, and even Sai seemed to realize that it was in bad taste.

We crept into the hanger, and I went ahead to the Strike, Sai following with Lacus and Miriallia bringing up the rear. "Thank you," Lacus said to the pair as I took my seat in the cockpit, the young woman floating over my lap while I entered the security commands.

"Don't mention it," Sai responded.

"Let's meet again," the young woman cheered.

Sai answered reluctantly with, "I'm not sure that can happen." Then to me he said, "Kira. You'll be returning, right?"

That seemed like a stupid question, and I wondered what he was getting at. Before I could figure that out, though, we heard Chief Murdock calling, "Oi! What are you doing?"

"You will come back here, to us," Sai asked, "won't you?"

"For sure," I told him, still wondering what was going through his head. "I promise."

I closed the cockpit hatch while my friends headed back to the balcony that ringed the hanger while more technicians arrived, calling out to each other. "Make sure you do!" Sai called out before he and Miriallia headed to auxiliary launch control. "It's a promise!"

"Open the hatch," I called out through the mobile suits external speakers. "Please stay back!"

Over the comm. Sai repeated, _"Make sure you do, Kira! I believe you!"_

His image was replaced by that of Ensign Natarle Badgiruel, the ship's combat controller, demanding, _"Strike! That are you doing? Kira Yamato!"_

I turned off the monitor as the Aile Striker pack was connected to the back hard-point of the mobile suit and took hold of the beam rifle and shield that were included in the option. "We're going," I warned Lacus. "Hold on tight!"

"You too!" her Haro countered.

Acceleration pushed me against my seat, but it also pushed Lacus against me, making it difficult to breath as we suddenly accelerated. Maneuvering around the _Archangel_ my sensors picked up the _Nazca_-class that had been trailing us all day, just out of effective range of its beam cannons. They were probably scrambling their mobile suits – of which they had at least three: two GINNs and the Aegis – so I had to be quick.

"This is mobile suit Strike, of the Earth Alliance Forces' _Archangel_," I announced over all frequencies. "I am bringing Lacus Clyne to you!" That should get their attention, I thought. "In return, I demand that the Nazca-class halt! I will hand her over on the condition that we are met by the pilot of the Aegis alone." Then I took a page from Ensign Badgiruel's book by adding, "Should this condition be breached, I cannot guarantee her safety!"

Lacus seemed surprised by the addition, and I gave her a reassuring wink to let her know that I wouldn't let anything happen to her. There were a few tense moments I approached – I was in range of the beam cannons, but would be able to detect a buildup of energy and dodge. But the _NazcaI-_class stopped and the Aegis launched, activating its Phase Shift armor as a precaution, changing from shades of grey to red with grey attachment points. I activated my own, the grey armor panels changing to white, with blue and red on the chest.

"Athrun Zala?" I demanded on an open frequency.

_"That's right,"_ Athrun's voice responded over the radio.

He flew over so that our mobile suits were facing each other, and I raised my beam rifle, aiming at the head of the X303 Aegis. The main cameras and communications gear was stored there, so if this was a trick he would be down those two vital assets. "Open your cockpit!" I ordered.

His cockpit opened, and I opened mine as well. For a moment we stared through the void at each other, and then I prompted Lacus, "Say something."

"Hum?" she wondered.

"He can't see your face," I explained. "He must be convinced that it's you."

"Oh, I understand," she caught on. "Hello, Athrun. It's nice to see you."

Her Haro had somehow patched into the radio, because I heard its voice call out a curse. Not for the first time, I was left wondering who swore so much around Lacus, because I hadn't heard her curse once.

_"Confirmed,"_ Athrun called over the radio.

"Then take her with you," I said, and the other mobile suit pilot climbed out of his cockpit to catch her. "Now, go."

I gave her a gentle push, and she drifted across the 14 or 15 meters of open space that separated the two mobile suits, Athrun catching Lacus' hand and pulling her to the lip of his cockpit hatch. For a moment they stared into each other's eyes, and then Athrun's eyes dropped to the bulge in her pressure suit being caused by her skirt while Lacus turned to me. "Thank you for everything, Kira," she called to me before catching her fiancé's eyes again and adding, "And you, too, Athrun."

He nodded, and I felt happy that I could reunite the pair. They looked back at me, and Athrun said suddenly, _"Kira! You come, too! There's no reason why you should remain with the Earth Forces!"_

"Believe me, I don't want to fight you," I told my old friend. The images of Sai, Miriallia, Tolle and Kuzzey, the refugees, and even the regular crew of the _Archangel_ flashed through my mind. "But aboard that ship are people I wanna protect. My friends, and other refugees from Heliopolis, are aboard that ship!"

Athrun hesitated, and for a moment I thought that he finally understood, but then he told me, _"Then I've got no choice. The next time we battle, I will personally defeat you!"_

There was nothing for me to do then but to accept his resolve. "The same goes for me," I told him, and closed the hatch.

Using the maneuvering thrusters I drifted away from the Aegis while Athrun and Lacus continued watching me from the lip of its cockpit hatch, and when I was sure that Athrun wasn't going to fire on me immediately I lowered the rifle. That was when things started happening – the _Nazca_-class fired it thrusters and launched another mobile suit, a ZGMF-515 CGUE according to the sensors.

Behind me the _Archangel_ launched the Zero. "Lieutenant La Flaga," I warned him, not wanting this to esculate into a battle.

_"Did you really believe they'd just sit back and watch?"_ the man countered. The ZAFT forces had broken the scene first.

Over the radio Lacus' voice admonished, _"Commander Rau Le Creuset! Stop it at once!"_ I had never heard her use that voice before, and wondered what kind of political authority she held that she could speak to a military officer with such confidence. _"Are you trying to turn this location into a battlefield, when there is a representative of the memorial delegation here?"_ What kind of authority did the 'memorial delegation have? _"I will not allow it! Stop your combat operation at once!"_

When the ZAFT officer did not immediately respond, she demanded, _"Can you not hear me?"_

I didn't hear a response, Commander Le Creuset's communications were encrypted, but his CGUE did stop, cutting thrust and turned around, escorting the Aegis back to the _Nazca_. The lieutenant said what I was thinking, _"I'm not sure what just happened, but we're returning too. We don't wanna stir up a hornet's nest."_

"Right," was my response as I watched the Aegis departing. It had been a long time since I'd been able to talk with someone as openly as I had Lacus Clyne – I would miss her. I was also hating the declaration that Athrun and I had made to each other: he seemed unable to understand my desire to protect my friends.

Lieutenant La Flaga popped up on my auxiliary monitor, asking, "What's the matter?

"No. It's nothing," I told him, hitting the thrusters and shutting down Phase Shift.

End Episode Ten

NOTE: I do not own Gundam SEED, nor am I making any money off this fan fiction. No real changes to this episode except that I have Kira questioning the previous battle and wondering why Lacus was taken hostage. That will play out next episode. Anyway, please leave questions and suggestions in the comment section below.


	11. The Awakening Sword

Genie's Trap: A Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Fan Fiction

Episode Eleven: The Awakening Sword

Date: February 2nd, C.E. 71

I stood in what I believed was the military position of 'attention', my feet slightly angled for balance, my knees slightly bent to avoid a black out, my back straight and my hands flat against my thighs, looking directly ahead. Trying to keep my expression from showing, I reviewed the past few days through my mind while I listened to Lieutenant Mu La Flaga and Ensign Natarle Badgiruel debate military law.

"The defendant fails to understand how much he threatened the ship's safety," the ensign, as the prosecutor, was saying, "as a result of his actions."

The lieutenant countered, "That comment is no more than an analogy. I ask that it be taken out of the minutes."

Behind her desk, Lieutenant Murrue Ramius, the acting-captain of the ship, allowed, "I authorize its deletion."

The Captain's Office was a small space near the bridge, with book shelves stacked with books on military law, tactics, famous officers, and a few other subjects. I faced the desk, behind which Lieutenant Ramius was holding court, considering me with her brown eyes. Lieutenant La Flaga sat on my left, a book on military law open as he tried to defend me, while Ensign Badgiruel sat on my right, her book closed in her lap as she seemed more than familiar with military law.

The room and the books had been inherited by acting-Captain Ramius due to her being the highest ranking officer with warship experience, her predecessor and all higher ranking officers having been either killed or prevented from reaching the _Archangel_ by the collapse of Heliopolis.

"Let's see," Mu mused as he turned a couple of pages. "In the first place, I believe that taking a civilian as hostage goes against Article 4 of the Corsica Treaty."

"The actions taken come under Exception Section C of the same article," Ensign Badgiruel countered, again, without opening her book, ""Measures Taken During Wartime"."

"Eh? Exception Section C? Never heard of it. Ah, well," the lieutenant murmured as he flipped pages, "but the _Nazca_-class withdrew, and we escaped a difficult situation because we released the hostage!"

Scathingly, my prosecutor countered, "It could easily have ended differently."

The captain asked, "Kira Yamato, is there something you would like to add?" When I said nothing, she prompted, "Why did you take such action without authorization?"

Keeping my voice measured, I responded, "I didn't rescue her to use her as a hostage."

"Right. If anything you'd want her for a girlfriend," Mu joked.

"Objection!" Ensign Badgiruel exclaimed.

"Will the defense please watch what they say?" Captain Ramius admonished.

My defense flashed her a smile, and the prosecutor sat down. Directing her words to me, the captain summarized the proceedings: "Kira Yamato's actions are in violation of Article 3, Section B . . . in violation of Article 10, Section F . . . and go against Article 13, Section 3 of the military law. Therefore said person shall be," she paused for effect, "sentenced to death!"

I gasped – she couldn't be serious, and I saw that she wasn't serious as her mouth twitched at the corner. "However, this is purely a sentence for those under court martial," She explained. "The military law carries with it no provisions to sentence a civilian. I call upon Kira Yamato to consider his actions seriously from now on. I now adjourn this case."

"U-Uh . . .," I wondered what I was supposed to do next.

"In other words," Mu summed up, "from now on, don't do stuff like that without permission."

I highly doubted that I would have been given permission even if I'd asked, but the way that Mu was talking it sounded like I would have had at least one co-conspirator.

"Do you have any questions, Mr. Yamato?" the captain asked.

"I do, Captain," I announced, "I was wondering why you took Miss Clyne hostage?"

Murrue Ramius frowned, and countered, "You haven't spoken to the others about this?"

"I, um, haven't had the time, ma'am."

She looked to the others, getting a shrug from Mu and a furious look from Ensign Badgiruel. "It wasn't actually us that came up with it," Murrue admitted with a sigh. "Flay Allster came onto the bridge, demanding that we contact ZAFT forces and tell them that if they fired on the _Montgomery_ that she would kill Miss Clyne. In the confusion the _Nazca_-class managed to fire on the _Montgomery._"

Natarle growled, "The _Nazca_ might not even have gotten the opening if she hadn't come onto the bridge earlier, demanding to know the condition of her father's ship."

"She came onto the bridge twice?" I wondered. There were only about a dozen military personnel on board – the others were Morgenroete engineers and various civilian tradesmen that had volunteered. To say that security was lax onboard was an understatement, and when you added that the problem with several of the door locks disarming themselves it would have made coming onto the bridge fairly easy.

The captain stressed, "I'm telling you this because the others already know, however; I don't want you talking about this incident with the rest of the crew or refugees. Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," I told her.

We were all dismissed, and I stepped around the ensign towards the door to find Sai and Miriallia waiting for me.

"Kira!" Sai called, sounding relieved. "How'd it go?

"What were you told?" Miriallia asked.

"Do you have to clean the toilets for a week, too?" Sai commented, sounding understandably reluctant.

"Hey, that's a great idea," Mu joked as he came out of the office behind me. "Shall we have you do that?"

He was followed by Ensign Badgiruel, who just scowled at me before heading off. There was a time that I'd thought the ensign was pretty, with her black hair and purple eyes. She was still pretty, and I was a fan of the knee-length pencil skirts she and the captain wore, but she wasn't a very likable person, and seemed to allow neither herself nor those around her any slack.

"They're not punishing me," I revealed.

"That's good," Sai sighed. Then he reasoned, "But that means it's just us?"

Miriallia shrugged, unphased, and told me, "The petty officer totally scolded us. He said, "Do you two even know the meaning of 'danger'?"

She looked amused rather than angry, but I offered, "Oh, sorry. I'll help."

Waving the offer away, Sai told me, "Never mind. We'll be meeting up with the 8th Fleet soon, anyway. It won't be a burden."

We started down the hall together, heading back to the living quarters section of the ship. Sai was quiet for a moment before revealing, "Kuzzey told us that he heard you talking with that girl. I hear that the pilot of the Aegis is a friend of yours."

That wasn't something I wanted known, because it called into question my ability to protect the ship. I had only told Lacus about it in a moment of weakness and confusion. Just thinking about her made my heart ache, because I'd had very few Coordiantor friends growing up. Very few people who I didn't have to frighten with the abilities my parents had coded into my genetics.

"Honestly speaking," Sai was reluctant to say, "I was a bit worried."

"Sai!" I admonished.

"But I'm glad," he replied. "You returned like you said you would." He waved then, and kicked off down a side passage, saying, "Well, I've gotta report to the bridge for my shift."

Miriallia went with him, leaving me with the memory of Sai's last words before I'd left with Lacus. _"Make sure you do, Kira! I believe you!"_

Sai had made me wonder with his comments of late, but he was really my friend. With that knowledge, I headed back to the living quarters to catch up on my studies.

I had a fairly good grasp on the mechanics and capabilities of the other GAT-X series mobile suits, and had turned my attention back to the X105 Strike Gundam. Designed for maximum versatility, the Strike had 'hardpoints' on its chest, back, shoulders, elbows, and lower legs, where additional weapons and equipment could be connected. Called Striker Packs, they gave the Strike a wide range of abilities depending on the configuration, but they also limited the mobile suit to the role of its current equipment.

The AQM/E-X01 Aile Striker gave the Strike high mobility in the form of a set of thrusters on the back. For weapons, it had two beam sabers that were housed over the mobile suit's shoulders, but a beam rifle and anti-beam shield were also standard equipment with the Aile Striker. And while I was getting better at moving at high speed and firing the rifle, I wasn't very good at combining the two skills in combat. Either I got hit or I missed by meters, usually both.

Likewise, the AQM/E-02 Sword Striker was designed for close-in anti-ship combat, and equipped the mobile suit with an almost 16 meter long sword that was designed to cleave through heavy hull armor by means of alternating beam directions. Beams emitted from both the top and bottom of the cutting edge created a scissor effect, while the extra mass added force to the blow. A practical tip to the sword was actually a spear point, and was meant to be used to disarm shields that were sometimes employed by other mobile suits. The problem was that the sword was impractical for anything besides anti-ship combat and jousting, while I'd only used the packs other weapons (a rocket anchor and beam boomerang) once each.

Then there was the AQM/E-X03 Launcher pack, which provided the Strike with its most powerful weapon – a beam cannon which I'd only effectively used to blow the arm off of a CGUE, accidentally blowing a hole in the side of Heliopolis at the same time. Not my finest hour. The other weapons provided had seemed like fluff the times I had used the Launcher, but looking back I thought that the anti-ship Vulcan and gun launchers could have been useful in a few engagements.

Things were quiet for the next week while we headed for the rendezvous point for the 8th Fleet, so I played around with a few ideas, checking thrust/mass ratios as I tried to combine different parts of each Striker pack and then checking power consumption. When I could I involved the others – Kuzzie, Miriallia, Tolle, and Sai – and when I couldn't I worked with Chief Murdock. In the extreme, I worked on my own and had the others check my work later.

Finishing a report to the Captain on my work, I stretched and checked the clock – I was actually running late for dinner, and throwing on my jacket I headed to the mess hall to find Sai and Kuzzey already seated at their meal. There was an awkward silence, and I got the impression that they might have been talking about me before I'd come in. Well, if Kuzzey had overheard me talking with Lacus then there was probably something to talk about.

I was on my way to get a tray when Sai said, "Flay," and I turned to see Flay Allster hesitating at the door. Getting up, Sai went to her, asking, "Flay. Are you alright? Shouldn't you still be resting?"

"I'm fine," she brushed him off, and walked over to me. "Kira. I apologize for earlier," she surprised me by saying. "I was in such a panic then, that . . . I said things I shouldn't have said. I'm really sorry."

We hadn't talked much, hadn't talked at all before I had brought her damaged lifeboat onboard the _Archangel_, but her apology almost seemed out of character. "Flay!" I said, wondering how to take this apology.

"I knew very well," she went on, "that you were doing your best. Yet . . ."

Even though I didn't know where this apology was coming from, I could see that it was costing her to get the words out. "Thank you, Flay," I told her. "I'm just sorry that I couldn't save your father."

"Wars are so unpleasant," she remarked. "I wish it would hurry up and end."

"I agree." Well, we had that one thing in common, if nothing else.

The PA cracked, the voice announcing, _"All units, take level one battle stations! I repeat! All units, take level one battle stations!"_

With a nod to Sai and Kuzzey we tore out of the mess hall, the others ahead of me, but I ran into a little girl who had been running in the same direction down the hall.

"Oh, are you alright?" I asked, holding out a hand to help the girl up. "Here."

Flay beat me to it, though, coming around me to help the girl up and apologizing, "I'm sorry. Kira was in such a hurry." She helped the girl to her feet and dusted off her coveralls. "We're entering another battle," Flay explained to the little girl, "but we'll be all right. Because Kira will fight to protect us."

"Really?" the little girl asked, looking dubious.

"He's gonna go and beat up all the bad guys," Flay promised.

"Kira," Sai called to me – he was holding the lift, waiting for me.

I ran to catch up, my last image of the pair of girls was them standing side-by-side, holding hands as they watched me go. Changing into my flight suit, I boarded the Strike and was briefed my Miriallia on the auxiliary monitor.

_"Kira! The attacking ZAFT forces are one _Laurasia_-class. Duel, Buster, and Blitz!"_

"Those three!" I growled. We hadn't seen either of them since the Eurasian fortress known as Artemis.

Miriallia started running down her checklist. _"APU activated. For the Striker Pack we will attach the Aile. Connected to catapult. Strike, stand by. Systems all green. Route clear. Strike, ready for takeoff."_

"Kira Yamato," I announced, "taking off!"

As soon as I was clear of the catapult I started angling towards the trio of incoming mobile suits, following the Mobius Zero in.

Ahead of us, the three mobile suits entered a formation, shoulder-to-shoulder in a triangular formation. They then broke formation to allow a beam blast from the _Laurasia_-class to pass through where they had been. _"Hiding their line of fire with those machines?"_ the Lieutenant remarked. _"That's very cute!"_

Lieutenant La Flaga deployed the four weapons pods, which had a pair of autocannons each. These set up a barrage which allowed the pilot to deploy the linear gun slung under the fuselage – more powerful but slower weapon. Unfortunately, all the Zero's weapons were kinetic based, and the Phase Shift armor on the GAT-X series mobile suits deflected most of the damage the weapons caused.

Our mission wasn't to destroy the mobile suits, but rather to buy time for the Archangel to join the 8th fleet. To that end, the lieutenant focused on the Buster, which had greater mass and therefore less maneuverability due to the beam cannon it carried. Firing my beam rifle I drew the attention of the Duel, which was a high mobility type equipped with nearly the same weapons as the Aile Striker. He shot back, and I deflected the shot with the anti-beam shield before changing direction to invite pursuit. This, of course, left the Blitz, but the crew of the _Archangel_ had proved that they could hold off a single mobile suit for a while, so hopefully the Lieutenant and I could force one of our opponents to withdraw, freeing us to help the ship.

For a moment I was afraid that both the Duel and Blitz were coming after me, but the Blitz broke off, dodged a few linear gun rounds from La Flaga, and sped off after the _Archangel._

The pilot of the Duel was excellent, easily dodging my shots, but he switched to a beam saber and came after me directly. I blocked with the shield, side slipped and fired the rifle, my shots going wide but they were a lot closer than usual. Breaking contact, I headed after the ship, not wanting to let too much distance build up between me and it. Mu was doing the same with the Buster, recalling his gunbarrels and rocketing after the _Archangel_ so as not to get too far away.

I switched to a two-handed method with the rifle, aiming carefully, and managed to hit the Duel in the shield as it lunged for me.

"I'm not about to be defeated here!" I announced to no one, abandoning the rifle as the Duel closed and grabbing one of my own beam sabers. We went sword-to-shield, trying to overpower the anti-beam shield's heat resistance. The Duel's pilot was having none of that, though, and broke contact, then followed up with a few more passes.

Above, Mu was peppering the Buster with an autocannon barrage only to have one of his gunbarrels destroyed by the Buster's defensive missile launcher. While that was happening, the _Laurasia_-class frigate had entered the effective targeting range of its beam cannons, and the _Archangel_ was forced to begin evasive maneuvers that slowed it's forward momentum – lengthening the time until we met up with the 8th Fleet. It returned fire with its own beam cannons while continuing to fight the Blitz, which kept vanishing from sensors.

The Duel and I continued to exchange blows, neither of us getting my headway, when Miriallia called me over the comm. _"Kira! Kira!" _I could hear the panic in her voice as she announced,_ "The enemy's come right up to the bridge! Get back here!"_

"The _Archangel!_" I gasped as my right monitor focused on the image of explosions against the side of the ship's hull.

I remembered the destruction of the _Montgomery_, Flay's breakdown at the death of her father, and her words just before this battle: _"We're entering another battle, but we'll be alright,"_ she had told that little girl. _"Because Kira will fight to protect us."_

_"Really?"_ the girl had asked, looking up at me.

My mind seemed to clear, focusing as I resolved myself and announced my intent. "I won't let you sink the _Archangel!_"

The Duel came at me, but I didn't have time to waste on him. Doing a cartwheel over his head I got behind the other mobile suit and managed to hit him between the waist armor and lower torso, a weakness that I'd identified in my studies, but hadn't managed to hit before. Pulling the sword back, I hit the thrusters and headed back to the _Archangel_ as fast as I could, dodging a few beam rifle shots sent my way by the X102.

The Blitz was standing on the hull above the hanger, firing beam blasts against the part of the hull that extended up to the bridge in an attempt to overwhelm the heat resistance. Beam saber in hand, I tried to land on top of it, but the Blitz' pilot was fast, and dodged. Not too fast, however, as I managed to catch up and slam the right knee against the mobile suit's chest, knocking it back.

Behind me, the Duel was incoming, trying to take advantage of surprise in order to get in close. Dropping the beam saber, I deployed one of the combat knives housed in the Strike's skirt armor and twisted my machine around. Blocking the Duel's beam saber with my shield, I plunged the dagger into the side of the opponent mobile suit where I'd damaged the armor earlier and allowed momentum to separate us.

The Blitz caught the drifting Duel, and with the Buster to cover them all three machines withdrew.

Panting more from emotion than exersion, I landed the Strike on the upper hull of the _Archangel_ and listed as Mu hooted, _"They left! You were marvelous, kid!"_

"Lieutenant," I called, checking my sensor board to see that his Mobius Zero was damaged but still operational.

_"Why . . . you,"_ he seemed lost for words. _"No. You're unbelievable."_

"Not really," I dissembled.

The sensor board started picking up additional heat signatures, and a moment later assigned names and designations to the ships that it had detected. It was the 8th Fleet, or at least a part of the fleet that had been sent out ahead, which had been the real deciding factor in the battle. By coming to us they had put the odds overwhelmingly in our favor, forcing the ZAFT mobile suits and frigate to withdraw, I decided.

End Chapter Eleven

NOTES: I do not own Gundam SEED, nor am I making any money on this fan fiction. Well, I promised a slight deviation in the narrative – Kira now knows that it was Flay who distracted the bridge crew, allowing the _Vesalius_ to get in the killing blow against the _Montgomery_. How this will change the dynamic between the two characters is something I will have to tackle in later episodes. Again, let me know in the comments section if you have questions or suggestions.


	12. Flay's Decision

Genie's Trap: A Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Fan Fiction

Episode Twelve: Flay's Decision

Date: February 10th, C.E. 71

"We're with the fleet now," I complained while sticking my head out the hatch of the Mobius Zero, "so what's all the rush?

"I feel insecure while it remains damaged!" Mu countered as he sipped on a water bottle.

Chief Murdock supported the lieutenant, saying, "The pilots of the 8th Fleet are all youngsters! Should something happen we'll need the lieutenant to sortie."

We were in the hanger of the _Archangel_, completing work on the mobile armor that had been damaged in the last battle. Actually, it had been damaged multiple times over the past 20 days, in various engagements, since leaving Heliopolis. In fact, the first time I had seen it the mobile armor had been missing all four of its gunbarrel pods, which had been destroyed in a battle with Mu La Flaga's arch nemesis Rau Le Creuset.

Mu gave the chief a thumbs up for his support, but I wondered, "But what about the Strike? Is it okay to leave it as is?"

The lieutenant gave it some thought before commenting, "You have a point . . . but I'm not sure about putting it back the way it was, and lowering the specs."

"One would hope," a woman's voice, which was mostly unheard in the hanger as there were very few women aboard with permission to enter the space, "that someone could come along and pilot it as is."

The speaker was Lieutenant Murrue Ramius, the acting-captain of the _Archangel_.

"Captain!" I called out in greeting

"Huh? What are you doing here?" Mu asked.

"Sorry to interrupt," she apologized. "I wanted to talk with Kira."

"Please don't give me that suspicious look," she admonished me in a playful tone, before admitting, "Although I don't blame you."

We headed over to the gantry next to the Strike Gundam, which stood grey and dormant in a maintenance cradle. "I've hardly had any free time," she mused while looking up at the machine, "so I couldn't find the time to have a good talk with you." She went on to reveal, "Well, I just wanted to thank you properly. I put you though a great deal of hardship."

She wasn't wrong – the first time we'd met she'd shoved me into the cockpit of the Strike, probably saving my life, but then I'd been forced to pilot the mobile suit to save both our lives. After that, she'd threatened my friends and me at gunpoint, telling us that if we didn't go with her to the _Archangel_ that she'd shoot us. Following that had been a series of unfortunate events which had led us to the present day.

"I'm truly grateful for what you've done," she said, bowing in the formal way of the United Emirates of Orb. "I forced a number of things upon you . . . and you gave us your all. I am truly grateful."

"Aw, it's alright, Captain," I told her, embarrassed by the formality. In actuality, my family had only just moved to Orb before I had gone to the resource satellite of Heliopolis to attend the technical college, and didn't know if I was supposed to bow back or what, and I was relieved when she straightened.

"The others may not actually put it into words," she told me, "but each one of us is grateful. Given this situation, I imagine things will continue to be hectic for you, even on Earth, but I wish you the best of luck."

Over the PA it was announced,_ "Admiral Halburton's shuttle will be arriving shortly. All officers and crew not on duty are to report to the hanger. I repeat! All officers and crew not on duty are to report to the hanger. Admiral Halburton's shuttle will be arriving shortly."_

We formed up just outside of the hanger airlock and waited as the airlock was cycled and the doors were rolled back. All three of our officers were present, along with the primary bridge crew, up front and center. Further back, I stood with my friends and the handful of the mechanics. The admiral was a tall man with blond hair and mustache, who smiled broadly as he surveyed the crew assembled before him.

"You know," he called out jovially as he leapt through the low-g environment, and took hold of Lieutenant Ramius' shoulders to steady himself, "when I first heard of the Heliopolis collapse, I thought that was the end. But what a joy to be able to see you people here."

"Thank you very much," Ramius responded with equal heart. "Pleasure to see you again, Admiral."

She saluted, and he returned the salute, dropping his hand first. "I was a little nervous when told you were in a battle earlier!" he admitted. "Are you all right?"

He looked to the other officers, who introduced themselves.

"I'm Natarle Badgiruel."

"I'm Mu La Flaga of the 7th Orbital Fleet."

Bypassing Badgiruel, the Admiral moved to Mu, exclaiming, "Oh! We were so fortunate to have you."

They shook hands, and the lieutenant admitted, "Well, I wish that I could've helped more."

Looking over Mu's shoulder, the Admiral spotted us. "Oh, and those fellows?"

Our acting-captain answered, "Yes. They're the students from Heliopolis who helped with the ship."

He actually pushed Natarle aside so that he could join us, taking a look at our faces before soberly saying, "We've checked for each of your families. Everybody is safe."

That was an immense relief, though only Kuzzey's family had actually been living on Heliopolis at the time of the collapse.

The Admiral's aid, a full Captain if I was reading the rank correctly, came up behind the senior officer as he was saying, "We're grateful for your help during this terrible situation. I wish to thank you personally."

"Admiral, we have little time," the commander pointed out.

Nodding, the admiral cut short what he had to say, settling on, "I'd love the opportunity to sit down and talk with all of you later." He then lead the way out of the hanger, his aid and the other officers following him while the enlisted personnel saluted.

Dismissed, the others had to head back up to the bridge until the officers returned, while I was free to change out of my Earth Alliance uniform and back into the mismatched outfit I had been wearing that fateful day in Heliopolis – black jacket and mint-green pants, with some small red belts to make the pants at least look like part of the ensemble. I joined the other refugees and whiled away a few hours by playing a game with Torii, my Birdy robot.

Tapping it on the head repeatedly, I initiated its defense protocol, and it began pecking my finger. It wasn't painful, but it hopped around on the mattress as if it were mad, attacking my finger tip. As time passed, though, I began wondering were my friends were – the admiral had to have been done with the officers by that point, and my friends would have been relieved of duty and sent to change into civilian clothes.

Deciding to go look for them, I followed the line of refugees to the shuttle that would be ferrying them to one of the other ships, where they would transfer to another shuttle capable of planetary reentry. I didn't see them there, and didn't feel like boarding the shuttle without them, so I proceeded on with the intent of saying goodbye to Chief Murdock and the other maintainers. Unfortunately, most of them were busy, so I ended up hanging out next to the Strike, standing on the chest armor.

"Are you suddenly feeling nostalgic now that you're disembarking?" I turned to find the admiral on the maintenance lift. "You're Kira Yamato, I take it. I read about you in the report."

"Yes," I confirmed.

He didn't seem angry, or suspicious of me. More curious, and maybe a little sad as he looked over the Strike. "But once again I'm taken," he announced, "but the sheer abilities of you Coordinators!"

He went on to explain, "These were built to cope with ZAFT's mobile suits," pausing before exclaiming, "but with you guys in them, they become incredible super weapons!"

"I wouldn't go that far!" I objected. If they had an MOS that would work with the standard neural pattern, and someone with high spatial awareness, like Lieutenant La Flaga, the Strike would be able to operate at the same levels.

Admiral Halburton changed the subject before I could counter. "I understand that your parents are Naturals!"

"Huh?" I wondered where this was going. "Uh, yes, they were."

"Were?"

"They died, when I was a baby," I explained. "My aunt and uncle raised me."

He frowned at the information, but did not allow that to change his opinion, "Still, I can't help wondering what they wanted to achieve by making you a Coordiantor!"

I was surprised and gratified that an Admiral of the Earth Alliance Forces recognized that it had not been my choice to be born a Coordinator. Most people seemed to assume that I'd had some part in the decision process, back when I was a collection of cells the size and shape of a lima bean. On Copernicus, after the destruction of the UN building, anyone identified as a Coordinator had been labeled as an unnatural freak for wanting to have their genes manipulated. Some of those who'd had their genes manipulated for genuine medical reasons had gone off their meds and died when the after-birth manipulation had been rejected by their bodies. It had been crazy.

That was when my parents, my aunt and uncle, had decided to immigrate to Orb.

"In any case," the admiral went on, "I'd like nothing more than a quick end to this war!"

"Admiral," an enlisted man I didn't recognize called out. Floating over, the Earth Alliance soldier snapped to attention and reported, "The Menelaos would like back on board immediately."

"Here we go again," Admiral Halburton sighed. "I'm not even given the chance to have a decent conversation with you guys!"

"Uh," I managed, not sure what to say.

"I thank you for protecting the _Archangel_ and the Strike to this point!" he told me. Then by way of salutation, he added, "Don't die before the arrival of a better day!"

He turned, and was following the enlistee when I found my voice. "Sir!" I called out, and when he turned back I asked, "Uh, what happens now to the _Archangel_ . . . Lieutenant Ramius, and the others?"

"The _Archangel_ will proceed onto Earth as is!" he answered a little sadly. "As for the crew, they will be going straight back into a battlefield!"

"Uh . . . Well . . .," I tried to start.

The admiral turned to face me before saying, "I know what you're concerned about."

"Your abilities are certainly attractive to the military," he admitted, but countered , "However, it's not as if we'd be sure to win if we had you. A war's not that simple. Don't flatter yourself!"

"B-But . . .," I tried, then settled on, "I understood that if I have the ability to make a difference, then I should put that ability to use!"

"Admiral," the enlistee stressed.

Holding up a hand to forestall a reminder, Halburton explained, "Only if you have the will! Nobody who lacks the will can see anything through to the end!"

With that said, he followed the enlistee out of the hanger, and back to his own shuttle. I followed them after a minute or two, heading back to the shuttle hanger were another transport had arrived to ferry refugees. Not immediately joining the cue, I watched for my friends, sure that they wouldn't have left without me.

"Come back, Elle," a woman called out to her daughter – the girl in the pink coveralls that I'd run into a few days ago.

I caught her, and set her down on floor, and the girl rummaged in her knapsack for an origami flower she had there. "Thank you for protecting us," she announced, offering me the flower.

Blushing slightly at the attention that brought, I knelt and accepted the flower, telling her, "Thank you."

She headed back to her mom and waved before rejoining the cue for the shuttle.

Standing back, I let other people pass me, but as the cue thinned out I began to wonder if they had left without me. Then I heard Tolle's voice calling my name, and turned around to see my friends still in their Earth Alliance uniforms just arriving.

"There you are," I sighed in relief. "I couldn't find any of you, so . . ."

Tolle handed me a sheet of paper, saying, "We were told to give this to you. Your discharge permission."

"We've all decided to stay," Sai revealed.

"With the _Archangel_," Tolle clarified. "With the military."

"You're staying?" I asked. Even Kuzzey? "What do you mean?"

Kuzzey revealed, "Flay joined the military."

That was completely out of character for Flay, and I wondered what she could have been thinking to volunteer for military service.

Shrugging, the youngest of my friends went on, "So we did, too."

Just then the alarm sounded, and it was announced, _"All hands to take level one battle stations! I repeat! All hands to take level one battle stations!"_

Behind me, the shuttle attendant shouted, "Hey, you over there! We're leaving!"

Tolle answered for me, saying, "Uh, please wait a moment. He's going. Think of this as fate!" he added before pushing me towards the shuttle. "Bye! You make sure you get to Earth safely."

"Stay alive!" Sai called.

"No matter what happens, please don't join ZAFT!" Kuzzey put in as they all headed back into the ship.

I watched them go, conflicted about what I should do in this situation. Behind me, the enlisted man admonished, "Hey! If you're getting on, will you hurry?"

_Archangel_ personnel, maintainers, passed by, shouting back and forth, the first sounding anxious, "Lieutenant La Flaga's taking off in his Zero!" The second reassuring, "It's all right! We're finished with the repairs!"

I remembered Elle giving me the paper flower, _"Thank you for protecting us."_

Lieutenant Ramius in front of the Strike, _"Given this situation, I imagine things will continue to be hectic, even on Earth, but I wish you the best of luck."_

And Lieutenant La Flaga when he first convinced me to pilot the Strike to defend my friends, _"You have the ability to make a difference, right? Then put those abilities to use."_

Holding my discharge paper in one hand and the paper flower in the other I wondered if I had the will necessary to fight a war? No, I reasoned, I didn't have the will to fight a war. I did, however, have the will to protect my friends!

Crumpling the discharge paper, I told the shuttle attendant, "Please go without me!" and kicked off towards the exit, tossing the crumpled sheet of paper behind me while holding onto the flower.

End Episode Twelve

NOTES: I do not own Gundam SEED, nor am I making any money from this fan fiction. The only change here is that Kira knows he was adopted by his aunt and uncle, so his conversation with Admiral Halburton is slightly modified. Questions and suggestions in the comments section below, and thank you for sticking with me this long!


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